Forbes: As Ukraine-Russia Fight Over Natural Gas Again, Gazprom Ready To Shut The Spigot

Someone needs to declare this union no longer salvageable.  

Russia and Ukraine are at it yet again over natural gas payments with Gazprom threatening to stop deliveries by Friday. The latest he said-she said shouting match is bad news for eastern Europe. If Gazrpom shuts the spigot, 55% of the Russian natural gas bound for Europe will be cut from the market.

Here we go again.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s state owned natural gas company Naftogaz blamed Gazprom for not fulfilling prepaid gas supply orders, “thereby breaking contractual terms.” Under the most recent agreement signed in Europe late last year, Gazprom was supposed to deliver 114 million cubic meters on February 22 and 23. instead, Naftogaz says it received 47 million on Sunday and 39 million on Monday.

Naftogaz said in a statement on its website today that it will not make advance payments for Gazprom gas unless Gazprom can offer assurances that it will adhere to the deal signed between Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan and European Commission Vice President Guenter Oettinger on on October 30, 2014 in Brussels. The deal requires Naftogaz to pay for deliveries up front so as not to create outstanding debt with the Russian energy giant. Naftogaz paid off close to $4 billion in outstanding debts to Gazprom by December. It still owes $2.3 billion, according to Novak.

Read the full article from Forbes HERE