Gazprom: Gas deal review may cause crisis

MOSCOW – A pledge by the woman likely to become Ukraine’s next prime minister to review a gas supply deal could re-ignite a feud with Moscow that temporarily disrupted supplies to Europe, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly warned.

Shortly after announcing a coalition deal between Ukraine’s former Orange Revolution allies that opens the way to her comeback as prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko called for “wide, additional and deep revisions,” to January’s agreement with Russia that ended a gas war.

“Implementing the threats voiced today in Ukraine is a path to a new gas crisis,” said OAO Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov said late Thursday. “The words of Yulia Tymoshenko once again confirm that Ukraine is the weak link in the system of gas supplies to Europe.”

The deal that diffused the earlier fight over gas prices allowed Ukraine to receive all of its imported natural gas at $95 per 35,000 cubic feet from a little-known intermediary company, RosUkrEnergo, a joint venture between Gazprom and Centragas Holding AG.

AP