Gasprom President Aleksei Miller said that Ukraine’s underground gas storages are short of 7.5 billion cub.m. of gas to pass autumn and winter without problems.
“Ukraine did not fully fill its underground storages. The Ukrainian gas storages are short of 7.5 billion cub.m. Ukraine needs to have 18 billion cub.m. of gas by the beginning of the heating season to pass winter without problems,” Miller said in his interview to Russia 14 TV Channel after the tripartite talks in Berlin.
This means that even if the sides conclude a contract and Russia resumes gas deliveries to Ukraine, “during cold winter period and high demand Ukraine will have gas shortage,” Miller explained.
The tripartite talks between Russia, Ukraine and EU completed in Berlin on Friday. The participants of the talks have agreed that Ukraine pays part of the gas debt worth $3.1 billion till the end of this year. When all the agreements are fulfilled, Russia could resume gas export to Ukraine in October, said Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak.
