Russia offers to extend gas transit contract with Ukraine for one year

"We will wait for trilateral consultations to start, for a new government to be appointed (in Ukraine) and contractors to appear. In general, we want Ukraine to buy gas directly. We proposed extension of the current contract for a year under existing conditions to our colleagues," Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak told journalists, TASS news agency reports.

The minister added that possible adjustments are subject to negotiation between commercial companies.

On July 26, Reuters reported that Russian authorities want to strike a short-term deal with Kyiv on gas transit to Europe when the current ten-year agreement expires. According to a source, Ukraine is looking for a long-term 10-year deal which is not beneficial for Russia. A one-year deal would satisfy Russia so that it could launch the Nord Stream 2 and the TurkStream.

After that, the National Joint Stock Company “Naftogaz of Ukraine” stated that they had no official information regarding the idea of a short-term contract from the Russian side.

The contract on transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine ends on December 31, 2019.

Naftogaz planned to propose transporting 60 billion cubic meters of Russia gas annually for ten years at the upcoming talks. According to the company, this proposal was agreed upon with European partners and is based on the European approach to the transit tariff formation.

The EU-Ukraine-Russia trilateral talks on the new agreement on Russian gas transit are expected to be held in September.

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