Ukraine has made full payment to Russia for gas imports in May 2012 by transferring $648 million to gas giant Gazprom, National Joint Stock Company Naftogaz Ukrainy said on Friday.
"Naftogaz Ukrainy has been making full on-time payments and, therefore, met its end of obligations to Gazprom to pay for imported natural gas," the Ukrainian company said in a statement.
According to Naftogaz Ukrainy, the gas price for Ukraine in the second quarter comes to around $425 per 1,000 cubic meters compared to around $416 in the first quarter.
It was earlier reported that Ukraine plans to reduce purchases of natural gas this year from Gazprom to 27 billion cubic meters (bcm) because of its high cost.
The state holding imported $1.4 billion in gas in January 2011, February – $1.6 billion, March – $1.25 billion, April – $948 million, May – $950 million, June – $860 million, July – $477 million, August – $487 million, September – $867 million, October – $1.004 billion, November – $972.2 million, and December – $1.004 billion. Naftogaz Ukrainy imported $808 million in Russian gas in January 2012, February – $1.3 billion, March – $865 million, and April – $628 million.
The price for Russian gas imported by Naftogaz Ukrainy to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2011 came to $264 per 1,000 cubic meters, second quarter- around $297 per 1,000 cubic meters, third quarter – around $355 per 1,000 cubic meters, and fourth quarter – around $400 per 1,000 cubic meters. The price in the first quarter of this year was around $416 per 1,000 cubic meters and second quarter – around $425 per 1,000 cubic meters.
According to the Ukrainian State Statistics Service, imports of Russian gas in 2011 came to 40.0017 bcm at a total value of $12.36 billion.
Naftogaz Ukrainy unites Ukraine’s leading oil and gas production enterprises. The company holds the monopoly for transit and underground storage of natural gas, as well as the transport of oil via pipelines in Ukraine.
