Naftogaz imports gas worth $1.6 bln in 2016
Naftogaz Ukrainy in 2016 imported natural gas worth $1.6 billion, Naftogaz Chief Commercial Director Yuriy Vitrenko has said.
"Gazprom wants to get $5.3 billion for gas from Naftogaz in 2016 (according to the "take or pay" condition). And we paid $1.6 billion for all the gas from Europe (and in 2016 we imported gas only from Europe). In other words, we spent three times less money on gas from Europe than we could spend on Gazprom gas," he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Vitrenko, if Naftogaz would have bought gas from the Russian company, according to the contract of 2009 contested in the Stockholm arbitration, Ukraine's GDP in 2016 would not have increased by 1.5% but would have fallen by 2.5%.
"And think about the devaluation of the hryvnia, the national budget deficit. This is the real result of our actions. In particular, the fact that we have created the possibility of obtaining the necessary volumes of gas imports from Europe," he said.
As reported, Ukraine has not been importing natural gas under the contract with Gazprom for nearly 14 months (http://utg.ua/still-alive), purchasing resources exclusively on its western border.