Gazprom confirms Ukraine has no outstanding gas debt

In a joint statement published following a meeting this Wednesday, Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine representatives disclosed that Ukraine doesn’t currently have an outstanding debt for gas shipments. The parties confirmed they will stick to their agreement as of March 12 and are ready to start negotiations on long-term cooperation. Vladimir Nesterenko: The statement sounds suspicious, as only a month ago Tymoshenko said that Naftogaz had a USD 900 mln debt to Gazprom – quite a large sum to clear in such a short period. We think there is a possibility that the parties agreed to offset Naftogaz’s debt against Gazprom’s transit payments, which should amount to ~USD 180 mln a month.