There is some truth to reports that Gazprom is working to block shipments of gas to Ukraine from Slovakia, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said.
“I will not comment conclusively, but the information is correct to some extent,” Stavytsky told journalists in Luxembourg on Tuesday, when asked about reports that Gazprom is hindering the shipments.
Due to a reduction in transit of Russian gas for export and a failure to negotiate a lower price for Russian gas, Ukraine has begun importing gas from European countries, operating pipelines in the “reverse” direction.
Ukraine began importing gas from Germany through Poland in November 2012 under an agreement with Germany’s RWE Supply & Trading GmbH. It began importing gas from Hungary in April 2013 and is negotiating deliveries from Romania. In addition, it has twice scheduled pilot shipments of gas from Slovakia, but both times the deliveries did not take place. The cause of the failures has not been disclosed.
“The gas that Ukraine recently purchased from European trading companies was priced at about $390 per 1,000 cubic meters, $130 less than the Russian price,” a Ukrainian government spokesman said.
