Kiev pumps astronomical volumes of gas into underground storages without paying - Gazprom CEO

For the period that Ukraine has not paid for Russian gas supplies, it has pumped astronomical volumes into its underground gas storage facilities, Gazprom’s CEO Alexey Miller said Monday. Out of 12.5 billion cubic meters of gas in Ukraine’s underground storages, 11.5 billion cubic meters is Russian gas that Ukraine has not paid for, Miller added. He said the storage facilities should have over 18 billion cubic meters to be prepared for winter.
Gazprom has an agreement with the European Commission that if shipments of gas through Ukraine are interrupted, then the issue of OPAL pipeline capacity will be resolved, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said at a press conference at Interfax's central office.

The commission currently has a ban on Gazprom's use of 50% capacity at the eastern branch of where the Nord Stream pipeline meets OPAL.

The conditions that were proposed to Kiev during gas talks were better than the conditions in place under former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Firstly, the Russian side was ready to guarantee that the discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters would not change and ultimately proposed "guaranteeing no change in the discount until the current contract expires, that is, until the end of 2019," Miller said.

Secondly, "we virtually proposed to our Ukrainian colleagues suspending the take-or-pay provision for 2014," he said.

"The situation of the Ukrainian economic is indeed grave and we understand that Naftogaz will find it difficult if not impossible to commit to taking the minimum annual contracted amount.

At the beginning we reduced this to 34 billion cubic meters, then 27 billion, and finally we offered to allow Ukraine to take whatever amount in 2014 it felt comfortable with, at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters," Miller said.

"Of course, such gas supply provisions were not available during Yanukovych's tenure," he said.

"In other words, they were offered ultra-discount terms, even compared to the gas cooperation terms that existed under the previous president. Nonetheless, they refused to accept those terms and, in effect, artificially created a gas crisis," Medvedev said.
Gazprom imposes advance payment requirement for gas deliveries to Ukraine, files $4.5 bln lawsuit in Stockholm arbitration

Gazprom has switched to requiring advance payment from Ukraine's Naftogaz on deliveries of natural gas in accordance with the contract between them and effective from 10:00 am local time, the Russian gas giant said. Gazprom has filed a lawsuit in Stockholm arbitration seeking to collect $4.5 billion in debt for gas from Ukraine's Naftogaz, the Russian gas giant said. "The decision was made due to Naftogaz Ukrainy's chronic nonpayment. Its overdue indebtedness for Russian gas totals $4.458 billion: $1.451 billion for November-December 2013 and $3.007 billion for April-May 2014," the statement says.

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