09:18 07.02.2013

Gazprom's Miller, Ukraine's Boiko meet, not a word about $7 bln gas bill

1 min read

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boiko have met at the Russian gas giant's head office in Moscow.

"The sides discussed issues of mutual interest," Gazprom said in a statement.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the talks.

Miller and Boiko have already met in Moscow this year, on January 22, when they discussed "the prospects for bilateral strategic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia."

They met in December last year, when Boiko was still Ukrainian energy and coal minister, and "discussed the outlook for long-term partnership in the gas sphere." They also paid "particular attention" to guaranteeing undisrupted transit of Russian gas via Ukraine to European consumers this winter, taking gas reserves in Ukrainian storage facilities into consideration, Gazprom said at the time.

The Financial Times reported on January 25 that Gazprom had billed Ukraine's Naftogaz $7 billion for not buying agreed volumes of gas in 2012 on take-or-pay terms. Naftogaz confirmed it had received the bill but said it had paid for Russian gas in full under earlier invoices. Naftogaz has also notified the Russian company several times that it intended to lower gas purchases in 2012.

AD
AD
AD
AD
AD