Ukraine counts on direct Turkmen gas delivery

Ukraine is counting on direct gas deliveries from Turkmenistan beginning this year, the Kyiv Post cites Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky as saying.

"We are counting on a resumption [of gas deliveries] this year," Stavytsky said during a Wednesday press conference in Kyiv.

Turkmenistan has about ten billion cubic meters of natural gas not contracted for with Russia or other countries, and that is what Ukraine is reckoning on, Stavytsky said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said he hopes his country's energy agreement with Turkmenistan will help in the search for a mutually beneficial form of gas cooperation with Russia. "This, in our view, will help in the search for a mutually beneficial form of cooperation in the gas sphere with our Russian partners," Azarov said as he opened a Wednesday government meeting.

Thanks to direct delivery from Turkmenistan, Ukrainian consumers will be getting gas at a fair price, and the country might be able to export gas to Europe, the prime minister said.