Ukraine, which produces 20 billion cu m of natural gas per year and consumes some 78 billion cu m, currently imports a mixture of Russian and Turkmen gas. The price formula is based on a European rate of $230 for Russian gas and $60 for the Central Asian republic's gas.
"Ukraine has signed contracts on the supplies of 7 billion cu m of Uzbek gas, 8.5 billion cu m of Kazakh gas and 42 billion cu m of Turkmen gas," Yuriy Boiko said.
He said the diversification of sources of gas supplies would not affect relations with Russia, adding that Russia exported 85% of its natural gas (some 122 billion cu m) to Europe via Ukraine.
"This level of strategic partnership between our countries means that Russia also does us a favor by supplying Central Asian gas on time and in full," the minister said.
Russia, which holds the world's largest reserves of natural gas, is Ukraine's main gas supplier. The issue of gas deliveries has become vital this year, following a price row in January, when Gazprom raised gas prices to world market levels and cut off supplies to its ex-Soviet neighbor. It later accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe-bound transit gas.
