Gazprom and Ukraine Have More Talks on Winter Supply
Ukraine's Energy Minister and Gazprom's chief executive have had another meeting about gas supply to Russia's neighbouring country, focusing on the coming winter season.
Yuri Boyko and Alexei Miller have met several times recently on the contentious issue of relations between the two parties. It is now three years since Gazprom cut gas supplies through Ukraine because of contractual disputes, leaving many parts of Europe deprived of supply in the height of winter.
Most of the Russian gas bound for Europe runs through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.
“The meeting addressed the prospects for long-term cooperation in the gas sector,” Gazprom said in a statement. “Moreover, the focus was placed on the issues of uninterrupted Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the European consumers this winter, taking into account gas inventory of the Ukrainian UGS facilities.”
Gazprom in October said its own underground gas supply system was "generally ready" for the upcoming winter season.
Kiev said recently it would buy less natural gas from Russian next year despite a take-or-pay contractual agreement.