Ukraine to buy gas from Turkmenistan, first time since 2009
14 February 2013
Officials with Naftogaz Ukrayina (NAFTO), the state natural gas monopoly, signed a cooperation memorandum on Feb. 13 with its Turkmen counterpart, Turkmengaz, to purchase gas from the Turkmen government and allow Ukrainian firms to participate in its extraction. Ukraine stopped importing Turkmen gas in 2009 after consistently purchasing it in the years before, the Kommersant-Ukrayina newspaper reported on Feb. 14.
An anonymous source in Ukraine’s Energy Ministry told Kommersant the memorandum is aimed at influencing current negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian governments to create a bilateral gas consortium.
Specifically, Ukrainian officials hope the threat of buying cheaper Turkmen gas will convince Gazprom to reduce Ukraine’s price to $280 bcm from $430 bcm currently. If Gazprom opts not to transport Ukraine’s Turkmen gas, the Ukrainian government would in turn decline to form the consortium, the anonymous source said. The Turkmen gas could be resold to the EU, the source said.
