Ukraine, Kiev, Jan. 23 / Trend , Z.Novosvitski/
The formula approach laid down in the gas contract is disadvantageous to Ukraine,
Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat First Deputy Chief Oleksandr Shlapak said at
a news conference on Jan. 23.
According to the calculations of the Naftogaz of Ukraine, the average gas price
for Ukraine will be 257.84 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters in 2009, he said.
Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat has calculated that in accordance with the formula
calculating gas price for Ukraine, which is laid down in the Naftogaz-Gazprom
contracts, when oil price is 43 dollars per barrel, the average gas price for
Ukraine will reach 238 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters in 2009 with a 20 percent discount, while in 2010 (no discounts) it will be 298
dollars per 1,000 cubic meters. When the oil price is 50 dollars per barrel, the
gas price for Ukraine will be 256 and 320 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, respectively. When the oil price is 70 dollars per barrel, the gas price will be 309
and 386 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, respectively. And at a maximum oil price
- 138 dollars per barrel - which was recorded in mid-2008, the gas price will
be 489 and 611 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, respectively.
The formula contains the highest basic gas price in Europe - 450 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, Shlapak said.
The signed contracts envisage no obligations of the Gazprom regarding volume of
transit from 2010 to the end of the contract in 2019. Ukraine is obliged to pay for natural gas supplies - 40 billion cubic meters in 2009 and 52
billion cubic meters in the following years until the end of the contract, he
said.
Shlapak recalled that Ukraine consumed 66 billion cubic meters of gas in 2008,
of which 20 billion cubic meters were its own production. Thus, Ukraine bought about 46 billion cubic meters of gas.
The signed contracts stipulate that "if we don't comply with any condition of the contract, Russia has the right to terminate the gas supplies," said Shlapak.
Ukraine has to pay for the gas through billing, not checking the volume, and
no later than the 7th of the subsequent month. Then the Russian side will pay
for the transit on the basis of the act and not later than 20th.
Ukraine's loss from the conditions of the contract will top one billion
dollars in 2009, Shlapak said. "Were the transit tariff, like the price, be a
market one, it would amount to four dollars per thousand cubic meters per hundred
kilometers. In this case, Ukraine would receive additional 3,393 million
dollars. It turns out that Ukraine has given more than one billion dollars to Russia," he said.
On Jan. 19, Naftogaz and Gazprom signed gas contracts in Moscow. A gas purchase-sale contract for 2009-2019 was among them. Ukraine will buy gas at 20 percent discount in 2009. The gas will cost $360 for 1,000 cubic meters in Q1 2009 (Central Asian price is $450). Russia will pay the same transit price in 2009 - 1.7 dollar per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers. The price will vary every quarter. Russia will supply 40 billion cubic meters in 2009. Since Jan. 1, 2010, Gazprom will sell gas to Ukraine for the European market price with no discounts.
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