Gazprom rules out review of Kiev contract

MOSCOW, June 24 (UPI) -- Russian energy monopoly Gazprom on Wednesday ruled out revising its pricing and transit contracts with Ukraine, corporate officials said.

A January dispute between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian utility company Naftogaz over gas debts and contracts forced disruptions in gas shipments, leaving a Russian-dependent European market starved for gas for weeks.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, signed a Jan. 19 gas contract to settle the row.

That contract requires Ukraine to pay for its monthly gas supplies by the seventh day of the following month and holds the country to a determined transit volume.

The Ukrainian economy is near collapse, leaving the state-run utility Naftogaz without the funds needed to pay its monthly gas debt. European and Russian officials this week have looked to the international monetary regime to help Ukraine with its debt problems.

Meanwhile, Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chief of Gazprom, said that while the contract allows both parties to review the contract if there was sufficient reason, he did not see any current need to do so, RIA Novosti reports.

"I cannot see any grounds for reviewing the pricing and transit conditions," he said.