KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2019) The general manager of the Ukrainian gas transportation system operator, Sergiy Makogon, said on Sunday that the negotiations on gas between Kiev and Moscow were underway in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
On Saturday, the head of of Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolyev, said that no written documents were agreed with Russia's Gazprom in the framework of the transit package deal.
"We are starting the next day of negotiations. The goal is to finalize all agreements," Macogon wrote in a Facebook post.
Russia and Ukraine signed a gas cooperation protocol on December 20 to secure Russian gas transit after the expiration of the current contract. Russia's Gazprom said last week it would settle court disputes with Naftogaz and anti-monopoly disputes with the Ukrainian government by December 29.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday that Moscow and Kiev agreed to reset all reciprocal claims to zero starting January 1 and to remove asset freezes under court rulings in legal claims.
The protocol also envisages delivering 65 billion cubic meters (over 2 trillion cubic feet) in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters (1.5 trillion cubic feet) per year thereafter for four more years. In addition, the document stipulates that Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogaz might consider direct gas supplies to Ukraine at a discounted European hub's price depending on volumes.
