Following another round of trilateral talks in Brussels, Russia offered a discount of $100 for every 1,000 cubic metres of gas exported to Ukraine, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on June 11.
Ukraine believes that the price of $385 that Russia is offering is still too high and was concerned that the decision by the Russian government could be withdrawn at any time, Oettinger said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in Brussels said the country also wants $1.95 billion for past supplies before June 16 or it may cut shipments.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said Kiev wanted a “fair” market-based price and was willing to go to arbitration if talks failed.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier that he had ordered the Russian delegation to take a “constructive position” so as to reach “a mutually acceptable agreement”.
Oettinger said that he optimistic that a solution can be found. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but we have both sides here in Brussels and that is very encouraging and on behalf of the Commission I can tell you that we will do everything we can in order to be fair, moderate and impartial in order to produce a solution by next Monday (June 16),” Oettinger said.
The Commissioner chaired late night talks on June 9 with Novak and Prodan but they broke up early June 10 without an agreement. With all sides agreeing that as long as the talks continued, supplies would not be interrupted and Ukraine would not go to the Stockholm court, Oettinger announced another round of talks for June 11.
Moscow says Kiev owes it $4.5 billion in outstanding bills but Ukraine has refused to pay in protest at Russia’s decision to nearly double the price in the wake of the February ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych after months of protests.
Oettinger said the stakes are high. “We’re talking about billions - major economic interests, major business interests which are at odds to each other,” he said, adding that he has offered to be available every day in order to reach an agreement. “Monday (June 16) is still quite a way off so I feel there is still opportunity of reaching an agreement,” he said.
The talks aimed at averting a debilitating gas cut and the possibility of a gas crisis in the winter that could disrupt gas supplies to Europe.
In Greece’s northern port city of Thessaloniki, Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE) Executive Director Costis Stambolis said that there is a very clear message from Moscow that they don’t want a crisis. “They will compromise, they will negotiate some further payments and things will come back to normal by September,” he told New Europe on the sidelines of a regional energy conference on 11 June.
Stambolis also expressed confidence that Ukraine will implement whatever deal is agreed. “Don’t forget that Ukraine depends on IMF funding to pay its dues to Gazprom. The Russians know that so they are not pressing Ukraine, they are pressing really Brussels and the IMF and so far this policy has succeeded because they got the first tranche of payment,” Stambolis said.
Gas Strategies Managing Consultant Chris Walters told New Europe on the sidelines of the same conference that he doesn’t expect a gas crisis this winter. “They will find a way - everything they can do to avoid that. And also in terms of a crisis with Nord Stream now in place, the LNG terminals, I think you can connect a lot of Europe with gas and although LNG would be expensive if you had to deliver it fast in the winter if an interruption wasn’t massively prolonged, I’d be fairly confident that Europe could survive - even the Balkans,” Walters said, admitting, however, that Central Europe would be better prepared to face a gas disruption.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/needing-gas-eu-referees-ukraine-russia-dispute