Gazprom "Concerned" About Ukraine's Plans to Cut Gas Purchases

CEO of Gazprom Alexey Miller has told Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev that Gazprom is concerned that Ukraine intends to cut its gas imports from the Russian supplier. 

Earlier today, Ukrainian Minister for Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boiko told reporters that the country planned to halve its gas purchases.

"We are cutting gas purchases by half, and we will be getting 27 billion cubic meters starting Jan. 1," he said.

When asked whether this would impact on current import agreements, he said, "We will be buying as much gas as is needed for our economy. If our partners have questions, they can solve them in a civilised way."

However, Gazprom's Alexey Miller told the Russian president that the company was concerned by these statements.

"Gazprom is concerned about today's statements that Ukraine is going to take a significantly lower amount of gas than stipulated by the contracts," he said.

In the meeting with the president, he estimated that a figure of 27 billion cubic metres of gas supply annually is currently being proposed by Ukraine. Current gas contracts specify a supply of 52 billion cubic metres of gas a year.