BERLIN
The European Union‘s energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger has said progress has been made in talks to solve the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia.
The talks were held in Berlin after Russia threatened to cut off its natural gas supplies to Ukraine unless it paid its bill in advance as of 1 June.
"We have made progress, but not reached an agreement yet," said Oettinger following a meeting on Monday with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Russian energy giant Gazprom's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev.
Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian gas company, increased gas prices from US$286 per 1,000 cubic meters to US$485 in April after terminating its agreements with the former pro-Russian government of Ukraine.
'Differences bridged'
Oettinger said the parties had bridged their differences on different calculations they had made on the volume of gas that had been supplied to Ukraine in the previous invoicing period.
However, disagreements continue over the price that was effective for the period between November and December last year, Oettinger said, adding that the price of US$286 per 1,000 cubic meters would be related to the period from January to March 2014.
He also said that Gazprom’s new price of US$485 was far above market prices.
Top energy officials of the EU, Ukraine and Russia are scheduled to meet in Berlin on 26 May for the next round of talks to solve the dispute.
Oettinger is expected to visit Kiev this week for talks with Ukrainian officials.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
