Creation Of JV With RosUkrEnergo Postponed.

Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov has said that the signing of documents required to set up a Ukrainian-Russian JV for gas supplies to Ukraine has been postponed. The two sides will meet again today. In related news, the Chairman of Naftohaz Oleksii Ivchenko said Ukraine wants to make Haz Ukrainy, Naftohaz’s subsidiary and Ukraine’s largest gas supplier, one of the JV’s founders. However, Russia wants Naftogaz to represent Ukraine in the JV. Ivchenko has ruled out the possibility of using the Ukrainian gas transportation system in the statutory fund of the JV. Concorde Capital: According to the agreement signed between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom on January 4, the JV is to be created by February 1. However, this unlikely, as the JV’s statutory documents are not ready yet and it is unlikely that the process of the JV’s registration will be completed by then. We expect the gas issue to flare-up again in February.