Gazprom not to cut gas supply to Ukraine planned for 2010
BUENOS AIRES. Oct 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Gazprom will not reduce the volume of natural gas it has pledged to supply to Ukraine under a contract, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.
"Let Ukraine meet its contractual commitments. What's written in the contract will go ahead," Alexei Miller told reporters.
On Tuesday, Ukraine paid for the gas it received in September, and did so to the full and on time, Miller said. "We expect that this will continue to be done," he said.
"We can see that Ukraine is meeting its contractual commitments. We hope that there will be no problems in its relations with Gazprom and with Russia. We believe that Ukraine can and must pay for gas to the full - it does have money," Miller said.
"Every month Ukraine tells us about what difficulties there arise but every month it pays," he said.
He pointed out that Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy is a state-owned company. "Ukraine has considerable gold and foreign currency reserves, the country has received loans from the IMF [International Monetary Fund], and it took account of the need to pay for Russian gas in obtaining them," he said.
Miller also said Ukraine's gas transmission system needs modernizing.
"There is understanding in Ukraine that modernizing the gas transmission system is a problem that needs solving. Apparently, it is in the new political situation in Ukraine that any moves will be made to that end," he said.
as