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Page added on October 6, 2014
Russia to seek gas compromise with Kiev but debt has to be repaid
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Monday to continue gas talks with Ukraine.
“We certainly need to continue searching for compromises based on the understanding that debts have to be repaid but terms for Ukraine in this situation should be quite acceptable and this is what your meeting with the participation of the European Commission is now aimed at,” the Russian premier said.
Russia’s readiness to supply natural gas to Ukraine at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters (cu m) “is our historical position, which is rather favorable for Ukraine as we believe,” Medvedev said.
Gas talks between Russia and Ukraine with the EU’s mediation at present have “quite a positive effect,” the Russian premier said. “That is why, I request you to continue these negotiations,” Medvedev said.
The Russian energy minister said Russia was ready to supply 10 billion cu m of natural gas to Ukraine to live through the fall-winter period.
“Gazprom may supply minimum volumes to [Ukraine’s] Naftogaz – 5 billion cu m under the ‘take-or-pay’ clause and under the regime of advance payments,” Novak said.
“Naftogaz will be required to prepay for 5 billion cu m while an additional option may be used for another 5 billion cu m but this time not under the ‘take-or-pay’ clause but in accordance with the system of additional requests, if such are required as a result of winter and the temperature regime”, the Russian energy minister said.
Russia-Ukraine gas dispute
Russia stopped gas flows to Ukraine in June over an unsettled dispute over debt and gas prices.
As of August 1, the overall debt of Naftogaz to Gazprom for supplied gas totaled about $5.3 billion.
Russia raised the gas price for Ukraine from $268.5 to $485.5 per 1,000 cu m from April 2014. Ukraine has said it will not pay for Russian natural gas supplies at such a high price.
After Russia and Ukraine failed to reach a compromise on the gas issue, Naftogaz and Gazprom filed mutual claims to the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal.
The average price of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe currently stands at $380-390.
Gazprom offered Ukraine a $100 price discount in August. Kiev rejected the offer, insisting on fixing gas prices without any discounts.
The EU believes it is possible to set the price of Russian natural gas for Ukraine at $385 in winter and $325 in summer.
20 Comments on "Russia to seek gas compromise with Kiev but debt has to be repaid"
Plantagenet on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 1:34 pm
I wonder how much Russia’s debt to Ukraine is for invading and occupying the Crimea and then shooting down a passenger jet and occupying and destroying parts of eastern Ukraine?
Laci on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 6:54 pm
Plantagenet, you are completely out of touch with reality. Crimea voted to join Russia. Russia is not occupying parts of Eastern Ukraine. There is a rebellion against the Kiev coup leaders in Eastern Ukraine, which is indeed supported by Russia, which is understandable given that through the Western-backed coup, the US & EU captured Ukraine’s central government on Russia’s doorstep. I doubt the US would accept a Chinese-backed coup in Mexico. What do you think? Chinese bases in the Gulf?
Plantagenet on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 7:22 pm
Laci—you are completely out of touch with reality. Russia invaded Crimea. The subsequent Election was held under military occupation and so is unfair and invalid. Russia then sent troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine and shot down a passenger jet. Perhaps you didn’t notice but thats why the US and EU have sanctioned Russia—invasions of other countries are not acceptable in the civilized world.
Apneaman on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 7:41 pm
Plantagenet
Your ignorance and stupidity is only exceeded by your ignorance and stupidity.
Makati1 on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 7:53 pm
plant is smoking or shooting again. Obviously drinking too much of that government cool aid. Just ignore.
MSN Fanboy on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 9:07 pm
Plant “thats why the US and EU have sanctioned Russia—invasions of other countries are not acceptable in the civilized world”
LOL bad examples plant LOL
Northwest Resident on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 9:17 pm
Plant — Nice alternate reality you have there. Very nice.
Kenz300 on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 11:12 pm
Russia is not a reliable partner………
Time for Europe and the Ukraine to wake up and diversify their energy sources and types.
Germany is incorporating more renewables into their energy mix. The rest of Europe needs to do the same.
The sooner they commit to alternative energy the sooner they will be more energy secure.
——————-
Ukraine Crisis May Spur EU Clean Energy Policies, Neste Oil Says
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/09/ukraine-crisis-may-spur-eu-clean-energy-policies-neste-oil-says
——————-
German Renewables Output Tops Lignite
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/10/german-renewables-output-tops-lignite
Makati1 on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 12:53 am
Kenz, what planet do you live on? Not Earth. for sure. You gotta start thinking for yourself. Europe has more ‘diversity than most every other country on the planet. but NOTHING is going to replace oil and the other hydrocarbons. Not even close.
Pull the energy that Germany gets from other countries and they would die. NO country can survive on renewables. NONE.
Feemer on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 10:16 am
Russia should not be meddling in Ukraine, and sending in troops was wrong. That’s not to say the US sending in troops to Iraq was not wrong, but NO country should be doing this. I agree that Ukraine and Europe should rapidly switch to renewables and increase energy efficiency so that they can depend less on imported hydrocarbons-particularly from Russia. To be fair though, neither the US or Russia should be involved. This is Ukraine-Europe issue. The trade and political association deal is between them, and Russia and the US need to butt out.
GregT on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 10:32 am
Sorry Feemer, but this is a Ukrainian-Russian issue. The US, Europe, and NATO need to ‘butt out’.
turningpoint on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 1:41 pm
Plantagenet on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 1:34 pm
“I wonder how much Russia’s debt to Ukraine is for invading and occupying the Crimea and then shooting down a passenger jet and occupying and destroying parts of eastern Ukraine?”
This comment is so absurd. No one has ever accused Russia of directly shooting down MH17. The accusation have only been indirect. And quite honestly, they are not necessarily the truth. Russia has hundreds of BUK missile systems but the Ukraine also has about 60. Plus, the Ukraine used to be part of the USSR, so why would they necessarily need training? There must be plenty of middle aged and older Ukrainians and ethnic Russians living in the Ukraine who were once part of the Soviet army and had training on how to use those systems.
turningpoint on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 1:53 pm
Plantagenet on Mon, 6th Oct 2014 7:22 pm
“Laci—you are completely out of touch with reality. Russia invaded Crimea. The subsequent Election was held under military occupation and so is unfair and invalid. Russia then sent troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine and shot down a passenger jet. Perhaps you didn’t notice but that’s why the US and EU have sanctioned Russia—invasions of other countries are not acceptable in the civilized world.”
Military occupation? If these people didn’t want any part of that election, they’d have stayed home. Most Crimeans are ethnic Russians and most who are ethnic Ukrainian, speak Russian and are influenced by the Russian culture.
Most everyone on a site like this should know Ukraine is divided culturally, ethnically, linguistically, ideologically and religiously and that this was first and foremost, a civil war. The parts of the Ukraine were once part of different empires, such as the Polish and Russian regions.
How can someone posting on a thread like this, not know the basics of what’s going on over there? This is a Peak Oil site. Most people who understand Peak Oil tend to be better educated.
Sometimes I’ve noticed, on previous threads, a divide between Americans and people who are not American, from other countries. Correct me if I’m wrong….
I’m an American. I think I have a pretty good handle on what’s going on between the West, Russia and the Ukraine and I can see why the people in eastern Ukraine and Russians are angry. They have legitimate grievances we, in the West, keep ignoring.
I consider our approach to the whole thing very stupid and not very helpful. I think most of it comes down to an Russophobia.
turningpoint on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 1:55 pm
It doesn’t appear I can reword my mess after the fact, can I….
steam_cannon on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 2:36 pm
“GregT… but this is a Ukrainian-Russian issue. The US, Europe, and NATO need to ‘butt out’.”
Butt out, yeah. Butt the problem with that is we’ve seen this before, when Germany was taking countries around it for similar reasons. That exact behavior is why the United Nations exists and why the “U.N. General Assembly condemns Russia’s actions in Ukraine http://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-general-assembly-condemns-russias-actions-in-ukraine/ “. The planet isn’t that big and it’s dangerous to ignore when a country is steamrolling with tanks, as long as we live in a finite world.
“Plantagenet…Russia invaded Crimea…”
I think this is spot on. And I’ve lived in these parts of Ukraine that are no longer Ukraine. Russia’s claims of racial attacks on people of Russian heritage is BS. They will make any excuse to get the warm water seaports and pipeline control over the country if they can get that too. Anti Russian heritage hate issues were not a problem on anyone mind, but worrying about Russia invading was. A lot of people figured Russia would be rolling tanks in again someday. And look at that, they did…
“turningpoint… If these people didn’t want any part of that election, they’d have stayed home.”
Based on the voting numbers, they probably did stay home, quote: “The latest reputable polls in Crimea showed that just 40 percent of Crimeans wanted Ukraine to integrate with Russia, yet 97 percent of Crimeans on Sunday voted to reunite with Russia. http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/another-explanation-for-crimea-referendum-landslide/ ” Voting percentages like those are fishy as hell and Russia being involved makes it worse. Do you also believe in fair elections in North Korea and the tooth fairy?
“Kenz300… Russia is not a reliable partner…”
Yeah no kidding, it’s like having a bear as your honey supplier. The bear might share a bite of the honey for some fish or it might take the fish and take a bite out of you!
turningpoint on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 3:02 pm
steam_cannon on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 2:36 pm
“Butt out, yeah. Butt the problem with that is we’ve seen this before, when Germany was taking countries around it for similar reasons. That exact behavior is why the United Nations exists and why the “U.N. General Assembly condemns Russia’s actions in Ukraine http://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-general-assembly-condemns-russias-actions-in-ukraine/ “. The planet isn’t that big and it’s dangerous to ignore when a country is steamrolling with tanks, as long as we live in a finite world.”
It’s absurd to try to make comparisons between this issue an Nazi Germany.
If Russia really wanted to take eastern Ukraine, they would have done it already. They don’t want it. They wanted the Crimea because it was historically part of Russia and they couldn’t risk potentially losing their leased naval base somewhere down the road.
They’d also like a buffer between them and NATO plus they do not want to see the Ukraine join NATO.
Russia does not want and cannot take regions that are hostile to them. They can only potentially take regions that are friendly and they’ll only do that, if we push them too hard.
We are far from innocent in this mess. We have been poking the Russian Bear for a while. It’s stupid and reckless.
It’s time for people to start thinking rationally and not emotionally.
Russia is playing defense and will only going to be a threat if we push them too hard.
Feemer on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 3:06 pm
Putin just wants control of Ukraine and its resources, ports and people. That would be fine if Ukraine also wanted to join russia, or the Eurasian Union, but it doesn’t. It wants to integrate with the EU. Russia should respect this, rather than undermine the country and plunge it into chaos and debt and civil war.
GregT on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 3:24 pm
“It’s time for people to start thinking rationally and not emotionally.”
Exactly.
And if I might add, it is time for people to take a long hard look at who controls the western media, and who stands to benefit from all of this.
People like feemer above, merely parrot what they are being told to believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Complete BS.
turningpoint on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 5:05 pm
Feemer, as I stated in a previous post, the Ukraine is a divided country. Stop treating it as though it wasn’t.
The “Ukraine is divided, ethnically, culturally and linguistically. The two different regions were part of different empires. If the government in Kiev had chosen to work with eastern Ukrainians, none of this would have happened. Instead, they tried passing language laws and when eastern Ukrainians tried to breakaway, the government in Kiev attacked them. They fought to defend themselves and when Russia stepped in to help them out, with only 1,000 troops and whatever else, that’s when the tide began to turn and Kiev decided to work out a cease fire.
If Kiev had decided to compromise, like a real democracy, and respect minority rights, then none of this would have happened. Instead, 1 million people fled, and I’m sure they weren’t all ethnic Russians. That’s called ethnic cleansing. That’s what our side supports.
We have a large country that wouldn’t even exist were it not created as a Federal Republic. Compromise is at the heart of democracy. That’s what the major Parties are supposed to do, compromise. Our democracy is no longer healthy because of a lack of compromise. The two major Parties refuse to try to work together. This country wouldn’t even exist were it not for compromise. Our bicameral legislature exists due to a compromise. That’s why we have a House and a Senate.
The government in Kiev needs to learn to compromise and respect minority rights. We took the wrong position on this issue.
The Ukraine is divided about whether to join the EU and possibly, at some future date, NATO. There are some people in that country that are vehemently opposed. Kiev decided to try to solve the problem through force. I do not feel any sympathy for them if things don’t work out for them.
If the Ukraine were unified, then why do so many people in east Ukraine support either autonomy or Federalism. Putin supports Federalism.
There are only several possible solutions to this mess, they must either grant them autonomy or Federalism or they have to impose their will on eastern Ukrainians through the use of force, either through subjugation (they tried, it failed), ethnic cleansing or genocide. Bizarrely, some people in the West and in my country seem to hate Russians so much, cleansing them out of the Ukraine is ok. That’s a bias, bigotry or prejudice. To say anything less is to try to sugar-coat reality.
Makati1 on Tue, 7th Oct 2014 8:19 pm
I want the US cool aid concession at the next Olympics! It should make me part of the 1% overnight. So much misinformation dressed as truth above.
The hypocritical US is invading any country it wants to and then blames it on some 3rd party. And the sheeple gulp down every drop because they are exceptional and could not possibly be the cause.
Right now, the US government is funding organizations in Russia and China(Hong Kong) also, trying to overthrow the governments from within. It almost worked in Thailand, until the people rose up and stopped it. It is not a new tactic. They have been doing it to countries ever since WW2. All part of the world domination plan.
Do you ever notice how an accusation against Russia/China quickly disappears when proof is presented that makes it a lie? No retraction or apology. It’s out of the Western ‘news’ faster the the popping of a soap bubble. But, the rest of the world sees the lie for what it is because it stays in their news, and often shows proof of the lie. Like 30mm bullet holes in an airliner? Proof of two Kiev military jets tailing said plane at the time of the ‘event’? The US is not the only country with satellites and radar.
Now, go back to whatever fluff you were watching and forget what I said, like a good sheeple.