Ukrainian Naftogaz plans to abandon Russian natural gas in 2016. “I think that we can surely say that we can completely do without Russian gas supply in 2016,” – Andriy Kobolyev, the Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine said at the second annual forum of directors “Orchestrators of change” in Kyiv on Thursday, Joinfo.ua reports with the reference to Unian.
According to Kobolyev, this will be achieved through the expansion of Europe’s gas imports and reduce gas consumption in Ukraine. He also said that Naftogaz plans to receive all the prepaid volume of Russian gas on Saturday. Earlier Naftogaz transferred to Gazprom an advanced payment for 2 billion cubic meters.
The head of Naftogaz stated that the company recently started to buy gas from Europe on the reverse for more attractive prices. The company will balance in the procurement of gas between Europe and Russia to form the optimal portfolio. Kobolev added that Naftogaz has spare capacity for gas transportation from Europe and Russia.