By Olga Razumovskaya
MOSCOW--OAO Gazprom's (GAZP.RS) chief executive said Monday his
company was seeking Moscow's approval to provide Ukraine a discount
on natural gas prices for three months beginning April 1.
Alexei Miller said in televised comments: "We consider the
three-month period optimal. Firstly because the spring-summer
season is beginning and also because of the high volatility of
prices on external gas markets."
Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz said earlier
on Monday that it had sent a letter to Gazprom seeking a longer
period. It wants to extend the discount winter package to the end
of winter of next year.
On March 20, Russia and Ukraine restarted talks over gas
supplies as the temporary deal that gave Ukraine a discount runs
out at the end of March. The talks are being mediated by the
European Union, which receives around a quarter of its gas imports
from Russia, around half of which come via Ukraine. Ukraine has
said that Russia's gas price is too high.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said that Ukraine
will stop buying gas from Russia from April 1 and will instead buy
gas from Europe. The gas price is expected to fall in the third
quarter as it is linked to the oil price with a time lag of several
months.
The temporary deal was struck back in October between Russia and
Ukraine and ensured Russian gas was being transited to the EU
without interruptions and to last Ukraine through a heating
season.
At the European Commission-mediated talks on March 20 the sides
discussed the possibility of extending the discount deal between
Russia and Ukraine. No documents were signed during those talks but
Russia said it would consider granting Ukraine a discount. Ukraine
said it would buy large quantities of gas to fill up its storage
facilities and to ensure uninterrupted transit to the EU during the
next heating season.
The European Commission spokesperson said that new tri-lateral
talks will be held in April.
Nick Shchetko in Kiev contributed to this article.
Write to Olga Razumovskaya at Olga.Razumovskaya@wsj.com