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Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko forecasts that the rates of Russian gas transit shipments via Ukraine's territory in 2010 will tentatively double from the current rate of $1.70 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas per 100 km.

"The rate of Russian gas transit shipments via Ukraine's territory will be considerably increased as of January 1, 2010, for the first time in over 18 years," she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. "According to our estimates, it will be, tentatively, two times higher under the agreements signed early in 2009."

Tymoshenko said that the above-mentioned contracts, which are to last for 10 years, had settled all of the issues of gas relations between the two countries, starting from price formation and ending with all the aspects of transit cooperation.

Early in September, the Ukrainian premier forecast that the transit rate in 2010 would grow by 65-70% to $2.80-2.90 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas per 100 km, whereas according to Gazprom's estimates it should be $2.56-2.70 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas per 100 km, which would be 50-60% up on the current level.

As reported earlier, the gas transit contract signed by Gazprom and Naftogaz in January 19, 2009 for 2009-2019 envisages a transition as of 2010 to a formula-based approach in the formation of transit rates, depending on the price of oil. Since September 2009, oil on the world markets has risen in price by about 10%.