Prime Minister says Ukraine to provide itself with its own gas reserves within 15 years

Yalta - Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that Ukraine will completely provide itself with its own gas reserves within 15 years.

"Within 15 years Ukraine will completely provide itself with its own gas reserves," he said on Saturday during the 9th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled "Ukraine and the World: Addressing Tomorrow's Challenges Together," which was organized by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

In addition, Azarov said that Ukraine would halve natural gas consumption next year.

"We can provide ourselves with gas and oil within 15 years," he said.

While speaking about the price for Russian gas, the prime minister said: "The price that we currently pay for gas, which is $540 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, does not exist anywhere. This is a stranglehold for us. We are obliged to empty our foreign exchange reserves and burden our people with such high prices for energy resources. Therefore, the energy challenge is a key one for us."