Russia, Ukraine axe intermediaries in natural gas supplies

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Russian and Ukrainian energy companies signed a deal on Thursday ending their complex system of natural gas supplies via intermediaries, and fixed a scheme for 2008 deliveries.

The agreement came after two days of talks between the heads of Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz, and was welcomed in the European Union, which buys a quarter of its gas from Russia via Ukraine’s pipelines.


Gazprom released a statement after the talks between company CEO Alexei Miller and Naftogaz chief Oleg Dubina saying that under the new scheme: “The purchaser of gas on the Ukrainian border will be Naftogaz Ukrainy.”

Until now the Russian company had sold gas to monopoly exporter RosUkrEnergo, half-owned by Gazprom, via Ukrainian monopoly importer UkrGazEnergo, half-owned by Naftogaz, and on to the Ukrainian state energy company. The convoluted scheme was criticized by Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshchenko, who called it corrupt and non-transparent.

Russia