By Torrey Clark
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia’s state gas- export monopoly, and NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy agreed to resume natural-gas flows to Europe today at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said by telephone.
Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state energy company, plans to pump 430 million cubic meters of gas during the first 24 hours, Interfax news service reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Oleh Dubina.
Gazprom and NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy signed 10-year natural-gas contracts yesterday, ending a dispute that’s squeezed supplies to the European Union for almost two weeks and raised concerns in the 27-nation bloc about the stability of Russia and Ukraine as energy partners. Europe relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas, 80 percent of which is carried through Ukraine.
Ukraine expects to pay Gazprom a price of $230 per 1,000 cubic meters for gas this year and receive a discount of about 10 percent to the European gas price next year, Interfax said, citing Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.
Gazprom wants Ukraine to pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter, equivalent to a 20 percent discount to the $450 that Europe pays, Kupriyanov said. Russia and Ukraine had agreed on gas prices, he said, while declining to comment further.
Russian gas flows through Ukraine were halted Jan. 7 after Gazprom accused Ukraine of siphoning off transit flows for its own needs, a charge the country denies. Ukraine agreed to keep 2009 transit fees for Russian gas unchanged from last year before also raising them to European levels in 2010.
Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Timoshenko met yesterday and held talks over the weekend following a warning from the EU that it might urge European companies to seek legal redress if fuel supplies remain halted.
To contact the reporter on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.
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