Naftogaz plans to increase gas purchase in Europe by 1 bln cu. m.

NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine announced plans to increase the purchase at the German RWE Supply & Trading of at least 1 billion cubic meters to 6 billion cubic meters.

The department of traditional and alternative fuels at the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry said in response to an information inquiry from Ukrinform.

"With a view to diversifying the natural gas import, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine implements measures for the supply of natural gas from Europe to Ukraine. In May 2012, Naftogaz and RWE Supply & Trading GmbH (Germany) entered into an agreement of purchase and sale of natural gas to supply to Ukraine. In addition to this agreement it is planned to enter into additional agreements for the delivery of natural gas in 2014 in the amount of at least 1 billion cubic meters," the statement reads.

The ministry noted that Naftogaz continues to actively seek alternative sources of supply of natural gas, including by entering spot markets in Europe, where gas prices are much lower than the price of natural gas purchased under a contract with the Russian Gazprom.

Also, the ministry noted that today Naftogaz is not the only supplier of gas to Ukraine. Since April 2011, Ostchem Holding Limited by Dmytro Firtash imported natural gas from the Russian Federation, the VETEK group by Serhiy Kurchenko in June 2013 began importing natural gas from Europe through Hungary.

A reminder that according to the forecasts of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, the price of gas supplied from Europe by the German company RWE in the third quarter of 2013 will be $ 385 per 1,000 cubic meters. The price of Russian gas for the same period is projected at $ 400 per 1,000 cubic meters.