Ukraine said Friday it would not purchase natural gas from Russia at the price offered by Moscow and would instead tap European markets as it continues its shift toward the West. Analysts called the announcement a sign that Russia's ability to use its natural resources as a weapon against uncooperative neighbours is waning - and that Europe's bid to grow its own gas supply chain is slowly starting to work.
The head of Russian gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday that he had received a request from Ukraine's state energy company to resume deliveries that were halted in November over a delivery costs row. The two former Soviet republics - locked in a bitter feud since Moscow's March 2014 annexation of Crimea - have had repeated price disputes that have occasionally resulted in disruptions of gas flows through Ukraine to Europe. Ukraine's Naftogaz state company confirmed that it had offered Gazprom a chance to be one of its "potential suppliers", but stressed it would only resume purchases at an advantageous price.
Naftogaz's business development director Yuriy Vitrenko said Russia's energy minister had proposed selling gas to Ukraine for $177 (157 euros) per 1,000 cubic metres in the third quarter of the year. "With corrections for (the fuel's) energy content, that would make the contract price at around $182 or $183," Vitrenko wrote on Facebook.