You're reading: Ukraine imports 27.7 bcm of Russian gas for $11.8 billion in 10 months

Naftogaz Ukrainy and Dmytro Firtash's OstChem Holding imported 27.74 billion cubic meters of Russian gas for $11.8 billion in January-October.

The State Statistics Service said Ukraine imported 3.17 bcm of
Russian gas for $1.36 billion or an average of $430.6 per thousand cu m
in October.

National oil and gas company Naftogaz has said it paid around $1.043
billion for Russian gas in October, so Dmytro Firtash’s Ostchem must
have paid $322 million.

Ukraine imported only Russian gas in January-October, the Statistics Service said.

Ukraine imported 38.645 bcm of gas for $11.58 billion in January-October 2011 – 35.043 bcm of it Russian gas ($10.37 billion).

Ukrainian gas imports plummeted due to the purchase by national oil
and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy of large amounts of gas at the start of
2011 in fulfillment of a Stockholm arbitration court ruling on the
return to Switzerland’s RosUkrEnergo of 12.1 bcm. The reduction in
Ukraine’s Russian gas imports was connected with its intention to cut
such purchases due to the high price.

Naftogaz Ukrainy imports Russian gas under a contract with Gazprom
dated January 19, 2009. Ukraine, which is not happy with the agreement,
has been trying without success to revise the pricing parameters of the
contract. For this reason, Naftogaz Ukrainy intends to cut Russian gas
purchases.

Ukraine is looking to diversify energy supplies and boost its own gas
production. The baseline scenario in the country’s updated Energy
Strategy to 2030 states gas production will rise from 20 billion cubic
meters to 44.4 bcm and that gas imports will fall to 5 bcm.

OstChem Holding started importing gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan in April 2011. However, State Statistics Service data
indicate that the company has only been bringing Russian gas into
Ukraine since the beginning of this year.

The State Statistics Service has said Ukrainian natural gas imports
rose 22.4% in 2011 to 44.801 bcm and 49.5% to $14.046 billion. Imports
of Russian gas came to 40.001 bcm ($12.361 billion) and Central Asian
gas – 4.8 bcm ($1.684 bcm).

The 2012 gas balance states that Naftogaz will import 27 bcm and
Ostchem – 8.124 bcm of gas this year. Energy and Coal Minister Yuriy
Boiko said at the start of November that he thought Naftogaz might cut
imports to 27 bcm in 2012.