Naftogaz receives payment from Gazprom for gas transit

Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy has received payment from Russian gas giant Gazprom for transit services to move Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine, a representative from Naftogaz’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.

The representative did not say if the state holding was planning to return the entire payment or the portion of it based on Naftogaz’s gas price calculations. The company will make this announcement later, the representative said.

Gazprom’s official representative Sergei Kupriyanov told Interfax earlier that Gazprom had paid Naftogaz Ukrainy for gas transit services on Friday.

«We paid everything that we were supposed to pay,» he said.

Kupriyanov added that the amount of payment was determined based on the price formula included in the contract: «We paid based on our calculations.»

He said there was not yet any confirmation on whether or not Ukraine accepted the payment.

Russia and are disputing the gas price in arbitration court. The transit rate is pegged to the gas price, so in accepting a specific transit rate, it follows that a specific gas price is also being accepted. This fact will undoubtedly be used in court.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy and the Coal Industry, Naftogaz gave Gazprom a bill totaling $64 million for natural gas transit in September and $88 million for transit in October. The bill for September was supposed to be paid by October 20, and for October — by November 20.