Naftogaz Ukrainy's debt to Russia's Gazprom for natural gas is about $2 billion, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan has said.
“We have a significant debt. Currently it stands at about $2 billion,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Saturday.
The minister stressed that the debt of heating companies to Naftogaz has reached UAH 25 billion, in addition to the debts of private gas traders.
“The debt of gas traders, I mean Mr. Kurchenko [the owner of VETEK Group] is about UAH 2 billion: gas was shipped, but the money has not been received. I think the prosecutor’s office is working there,” said Prodan.
Talking about the price of Russian gas imports, he noted that in March its value will be the same as in February – $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, and in the second quarter, if we do not succeed in agreeing to extend this price, it could go back to the range of $400 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The minister noted that currently Naftogaz Ukrainy is holding active negotiations with Gazprom to keep the current price, adding that there are no contacts at the level of ministers so far because of the Russian side’s reluctance to make concessions.
