Russia's OAO
Gazprom (GAZP.RS) said Tuesday that it is ready to resume talks with Ukraine
over natural gas deliveries both to its neighbour and through the former Soviet
republic en route to European nations.
"We're prepared to get back to negotiations at any moment," Sergei
Kupriyanov, spokesman for government-controlled Gazprom said in a televised
statement.
Earlier Tuesday, the chief executive of Ukraine's
state energy firm Naftogaz, Oleg Dubina, indicated that he would travel to Moscow
to discuss a solution to the ongoing standoff between Gazprom and Ukraine
Jan. 8.
The two parties failed to sign a new gas supply contract for 2009 on Dec. 31,
prompting Gazprom to switch off the taps to Ukraine
the following morning. Since then, shipments of Russian gas to Europe
through Ukraine
have been disrupted, something Gazprom has attempted to address by raising
transit volumes across other routes.