Naftogaz Head Sees no Reason to Extend Transit Contract with Gazprom on Old Terms

CEO of Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev sees no sense and benefit for the country to extend the transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom under the existing terms. “If the Russian side says that they want condensed specifications, other volumes of supply, then it’s logical for us to take a position, and we stand for a new contract, only under European law, only with a new operator,” - Interfax quotes Kobolev as saying. According to the head of the company, he does not understand why the Ukrainian side may be interested in extending the contract on old terms, REGNUM reports. He noted that the new Ukrainian operator has already transmitted to the Russian side a draft inter-operator agreement that regulates the issue of network connection, reports RT. Immediately after the signing of the document, a discussion will follow of the available capacities and their quantity needed by Gazprom, as well as possible tariffs and terms, Kobolev added. On October 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was ready to extend the contract with Ukraine for pumping gas for a year if a new agreement was not signed. On October 3, Naftogaz noted that the company did not receive any proposals to extend the contract for gas transit with Russia for a year. On October 8, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced a possible change in the technical parameters of the contract for gas transit through Ukraine to Europe, since “the situation has changed significantly compared to a decade ago”. iz.ru