Ukraine seeks to hike 30% tariffs for Russian natural gas shipments
to Europe
Kiev (Platts)--12Mar2015/806 am EDT/1206 GMT
Ukraine will seek to hike the gas transportation tariffs it charges
Russia for shipments of natural gas to markets in Europe by 30%, Energy
and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said late Wednesday.
Ukraine, Russia and the EU will hold trilateral negotiations on March 20
in Brussels to discuss gas supplies and prevent potential disputes
between Kiev and Moscow.
Ukraine currently charges the Russian gas giant Gazprom $2.88 to ship of
1,000 cu m of gas 100 km (62 miles) across its territory, but the price
is only valid until the end of the month and will have to be
renegotiated.
"I set myself the goal of increasing this tariff by at least 30%,"
Demchyshyn told a press conference.
The price hike is necessary to ensure enough money is raised to
upgrade the Ukrainian gas transportation system which currently moves
more than a half of Russia's Europe-bound gas supplies.
The transit of Russian gas via Ukraine fell by 38.8% year on year to 7.9
Bcm in January-February, according to the state gas shipper UkrTransGaz.
In February, Ukraine moved 3.7 Bcm of Russian gas to markets in the EU
and Moldova, down 32.7% on the year and 11.9% from January.
GAS PRICES
Ukraine expects that Russian natural gas price will drop to
"significantly" less than $270/1,000 cu m from April, Demchyshyn said.
"The price on the spot market in Europe has dropped to below $270/1,000
cu m, so we expect that the prices discussed will be significantly below
this level," Demchychyn said.
Ukraine increasingly relies on gas imports from Europe after Russia,
once its main supplier, completely suspended gas deliveries in June
2014, forcing the country to begin imports of European gas via Slovakia,
Poland and Hungary.
Ukraine resumed imports from Russia in December 2014 after a six
month-long suspension of supplies caused by a gas price dispute.
In January-February, Ukraine imported about 4.1 Bcm of gas, comprising
2.3 Bcm from Europe and 1.8 Bcm from Russia, while a year earlier,
Ukraine imported the same amount, all of it from Russia, according to
state-owned gas shipper UkrTransGaz.
--Alexander Bor,
newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart,
jonathan.dart@platts.com
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