Lower-than-expected exports of Russian natural gas to Ukraine will cost OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) around $1.3 billion in lost revenue this year, the company said Monday.
Gazprom expects to sell 26.6 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine this year at an average price of $236 per 1,000 cubic meters, compared to 32 billion as the minimal contracted amount, said spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov. He was speaking in an television interview on the Russia Today TV channel.
The lost revenue of $1.3 billion doesn't include penalties and fines for taking less gas than stipulated under a take-or-pay contract, he said.
Ukraine, whose fragile economy has suffered severely amid the global economic slowdown, has bought less gas than contracted this year.
Gazprom agreed last month to not fine Ukraine's state gas firm, Naftogaz, for breaking the contract. It also agreed to reduce natural gas deliveries in 2010 by 35% to 33.75 billion cubic meters from the previously contracted amount of 52 billion cubic meters.
Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine were cut off in January this year for almost three weeks, due to a pricing dispute between Moscow and Kiev. Gazprom supplies over a quarter of Europe's gas needs, of which around 80% is shipped through Ukraine.