Ukraine requested take or pay fine exemptions in Q2, Gazprom obliged - Miller
MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - Ukraine requested that Gazprom exempt it from fines under the take or pay principle for a period of three months, the Russian gas giant's CEO, Alexei Miller, said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We obliged," Miller said.
He said the price of Russian gas for Ukraine was $247 per thousand cubic meters from April 1.
"You have to accommodate your partners," the Russian president said.
"We consider that we should back the request of our Ukrainian partners to extend this regime of not enforcing take or pay fines," Miller said.
"I agree, and I bear in mind the difficult situation in the Ukrainian economy. We have to meet our partners halfway," he said.
Miller said Ukraine had asked that take or pay fines under the 2009 contract not be imposed.
"We obliged them. We wrote to Naftogaz that Gazprom would not impose fines in the next three months, but Ukraine is asking for an extension to that exemption," Miller said.
"We see that Ukraine's uptake of our gas is extremely low. This is due to a slump in Ukrainian industry and growth in energy prices," he said.