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Russia eyes deal with EU to monitor gas exports
Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said a deal to monitor gas exports via Ukraine was due to be signed late last night, allowing for the resumption of supplies to Europe cut off by Moscow's price row with Kiev.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:47 January 9, 2009
Moscow/Kiev: Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said a deal to monitor gas exports via Ukraine was due to be signed late last night, allowing for the resumption of supplies to Europe cut off by Moscow's price row with Kiev.
"We expect that in the course of today the protocol on the creation of an international independent mechanism to guarantee the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will be signed," Interfax quoted Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller as saying. "And immediately after that we will renew [gas] deliveries."
The European Commission said a gas monitoring team had already started work in Kiev, but Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it would take time to resume shipments, cut off for days as Europe suffered a bitter winter.
Miller was speaking after meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who said he wanted to see gas flowing to Europe "as quickly as possible". Medvedev added that a deal must be signed before shipments resume.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the European Union presidency, travelled to Ukraine yesterday to finalise agreement on the monitoring.
In a sign that obstacles remained to a deal, Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz said Russia had not given Ukrainian monitors access to gas-pumping stations on Russian territory.
Russian officials have said even once the monitors are in place, it could take many hours and possibly days before Russian gas reaches Europe again.
Resuming the flows involves building up pressure in the pipeline network, and the large distances involved mean that, once moving, the gas will take time to reach customers.
The gas is likely to be delivered only to Europe, not Ukraine itself, since Moscow and Kiev have yet to agree a price for the gas, subsidised since Soviet times. Russia has repeatedly said Ukraine must now pay the going market rate.
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