Naftogaz head: Halt of gas supplies from Russia will in no way affect the consumers

Cessation of gas deliveries from Russia will in no way affect domestic consumers. The head of Board of Naftogaz Ukrainy Andrii Kobolev announced today, June 16, following the Governmental session.

“With regards to an opportunity of Naftogaz to supply gas now – gas is being extracted, gas is in storages as well,” Andrii Kobolev assured.

The head of Naftogaz noted that the negotiations with the Russian side had lasted very long, however, unfortunately, they failed to yield a result.

“Our Russian partners has adopted an incorrect position, what they propose is a priori unacceptable,” Andrii Kobolev noted and added, in particular, unacceptable appears not just the price, but the proposal of the Russian side which affords the government of the Russian Federation to unilaterally regulate the gas price for Ukraine. The price level is also exceedingly high. All these have made further negotiations impossible. Ukraine agreed to the joint proposition prepared and elaborated jointly with the European Commission, however, unfortunately, Gazprom rejected this proposition and rejected peaceful settlement of the conflict. Hence, Ukraine faces today suspension of gas supplies for the consumers. Simultaneously, a claim has been filed to the Arbitrary Court of Stockholm. Now we will engage into negotiations with Europeans to discuss the change of gas delivery scheme, in particular it concerns purchasing from European companies, which can be considerably cheaper than from Russia.

“Referring to the prices for the domestic consumers, we will have a public discussion concerning what price level is adequate and fair to be paid by Ukrainian consumers. And it doesn’t depend on our relations with Gazprom,” Andrii Kobolev told and added the present level is a bit lower, than in the Russian Federation.

At this, he stressed it in no way connected to import, “it is strictly an internal discussion”.

“And actually our high dependence on the Russian gas appears partly a result of the policy, when extraction of gas through the exceedingly low price was disadvantageous,” the head of Naftogaz explained. According to him, if Ukrgazvydobuvannya sells gas USD 50 per one thousand cubic meters and the price of import is USD 258.5 at best, it is illogical to sell gas at such price to a domestic company. Therefrom, nowadays, to the conviction of the Naftogaz leaders, the discussion of a gas price for the consumers is as relevant as ever. At this, Andrii Kobolev noted with regards to the socially vulnerable layers of the population there exist effective protective mechanisms. And with the view to the “development it could give certain impetus”.