Naftogaz ready to buy gas from Russia at market prices

Kiev, November 18 - Neftegaz.RU. Naftogaz has never refused to buy natural gas from Gazprom at market prices, but the Russian gas monopoly refuses to fulfill its obligations under the current contract. Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev wrote this on his Facebook page while commenting on the latest statement by Vladimir Putin on gas transit and gas supply, Ukrinform reported.

"Naftogaz has never refused to buy gas from Gazprom at fair market prices. The situation here is diametrically opposite - Gazprom refuses to fulfill its obligations under the current contract," Kobolev said. He noted that Ukraine currently imports gas from 3 EU countries through existing gas pipelines.

"In addition to Naftogaz, they are used by many other European companies. For example, such an energy giant as Shell is about three times larger in terms of its capitalization than Gazprom. And also several dozen other well-known international companies. They buy this gas in the EU market, where Gazprom's share began to decline and is now about 32%. That is, calling all gas in the EU market Russian is definitely not correct," Kobolyev said.

According to him, Naftogaz also did not initiate new lawsuits against Gazprom but continues to defend itself against lawsuits from Gazprom. "Naftogaz has not filed new lawsuits against Gazprom. We defend ourselves in arbitration and courts against lawsuits filed against us by Gazprom. We defend ourselves successfully now and will continue to conscientiously uphold the interests of the Ukrainian state," he said.

At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine has an obligation to implement European legislation by the end of this year.

Putin said at a press conference after the BRICS summit in Brazil that there was a risk that gas transit through Ukraine could be stopped. He said the situation could be aggravated by Naftogaz's lawsuit filed against Gazprom in November and added that Russia was ready to conclude a gas transit agreement with Ukraine at prices reduced by 20-25%.

"We have said many times that we are ready to work with Ukraine both on the transit of our gas to Europe and on deliveries to Ukraine itself, by the way, at prices lower than those at which Ukraine receives Russian gas on the reverse route from Europe," Putin said.