KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said a deal was reached with Russian energy company Gazprom that may avert a winter gas crisis.
Gazprom in 2009 cut gas supplies to Ukraine following contractual disputes over payments. In early November, Gazprom said Ukraine had more than $880 million in unsettled debt from its August natural gas bills, sparking fears of another gas spat.
Stavytsky said Monday both sides reached an agreement that may stave off another payment row.
"We have reached a compromise that will allow Ukraine to timely pay for the natural resources that we receive under the new schedule that has been signed, and meet the needs of all of our partners -- on behalf of the supplier of gas -- Gazprom and on behalf of the transit [country]," he was quoted by the National News Agency of Ukraine as saying.
The minister provided no details about the new arrangement.
The 2009 spat left European consumers in the cold for several weeks because the bulk of their Russian natural gas supplies are transported through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine. The European Union has since courted Caspian states as rival natural gas suppliers.
Ukraine purchased no natural gas from Russia Nov. 8-14, relying instead on its underground gas storage.
