Ukraine wants to sign 15-year gas supply contracts with Russia’s Gazprom

The government of Ukraine wants to sign 15-year gas supply contracts with Russia’s Gazprom and would work to ensure a five-year transition period from the current gas price to the European level, according to Itar-Tass.

Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Oleg Dubina told reporters on Wednesday the government instructed his company to conclude 15-year contracts with Gazprom.

“We would like to have the European price for natural gas in five years, and during the transition period we want to agree on a fixed indexation of the existing price of 179.5 dollars per thousand cubic meters,” he said.

“We anticipate a price growth, but I will say how big it may be only after the talks,” Dubina said, specifying two long-term contracts – on gas supplies and transit to Europe – will be discussed.

He said his company had already drafted direct contracts with Gazprom that envisage no intermediaries.

The price of Russian gas for Ukraine rose to 179.5 dollars in 2008 from 130 in 2007 and 95 in 2006. The European transit tariff upped from 1.6 to 1.7 dollars for 1000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers this year.

Itar-Tass