The rise in the price of gas imported to Ukraine in 2009 should not result in a rise in gas prices for the Ukrainian population, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said.
"There are no grounds to raise gas prices for the population," she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
She said that the National Electricity Regulatory Commission sets gas prices for the public.
Naftogaz Ukrainy Deputy CEO Volodymyr Trikolich said that the Ukrainian population annually consumes around 5.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas for cooking, while another 20.5 billion cubic meters is used for heat and hot water supplies.
He said that cheaper, Ukrainian-produced gas, unlike imported gas, is used for this purpose, and its annual production volume is 19.5 billion cubic meters.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko said that following the rise in the Russian gas price for Ukraine from last year's $179.50 to this year's $228.80 per 1,000 cubic meters (including up to $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2009), the government would probably have to considerably raise the prices of gas for all categories of its consumers with the goal of balancing the financial state of Naftogaz.
Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said on January 20 that the Naftogaz balance is being currently calculated and the company's financial plan is being drafted, and added there would then be "clear payments and schemes for changing prices."
