Ukraine expects gas price to go down due to possible decline in oil prices - Yanukovych
Ukraine expects the price for oil and oil products on the world market to significantly decrease in the future, which, considering the preservation of the price formula in the 2009 gas supply contract with Russia, should subsequently reduce the gas price to under the $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters agreed upon with Moscow on December 17, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said.
"As concerns price stability: it fully depends on what the price for oil and oil products is going to be. If the oil price goes down to $80 per barrel, the [gas] price could possibly be $230, and therefore this price cannot be fixed," Yanukovych told journalists on Thursday.
The supplement to the 2009 Ukrainian-Russian gas contract signed in Moscow on December 17 envisions that Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom are supposed to confirm the price of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters each quarter. If such an additional quarterly agreement is not signed by the 10th day of the first month of each quarter, the gas price will again be calculated based on a formula, which, considering the current world prices for oil and oil products, makes it equal to about $400 per 1,000 cubic meters.
