Naftogaz denies info on asking Gazprom for advance payment for gas transit

14:24, 24.08.2015 1 min read

Naftogaz Ukrainy during talks with Gazprom in Minsk last week did not raised the issue of obtaining advance payments for gas transit, head of the Naftogaz PR department Olena Osmolovska has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"We did not discuss the issue of advance payments for gas transit. We discussed the terms of the new winter package in Minsk," she said.

Previously, the Kommersant newspaper reported that Naftogaz Ukrainy asked Russian gas giant Gazprom at talks in Minsk on August 21 to provide advance payments for transit shipments of gas through Ukraine so it could use the money to pay for pumping gas into underground gas storage facilities.

The last time that Gazprom paid Naftogaz such an advance, in the amount of $1 billion, was in June 2013. This advance ran out in early 2015 or in August 2014, depending on the price at which Ukraine imported Russian gas. Naftogaz is currently disputing this price in Stockholm arbitration.