KIEV, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - Naftogaz will hold talks on natural gas supplies with Russian monopoly Gazprom in Moscow on Tuesday amid media speculation that Ukraine's national energy firm will seek to revise the current gas deals.
Naftogaz did not reveal the agenda of the talks. "All details will be made public after the talks," company spokesman Valentyn Zemlyanskiy said on Tuesday.
Russian media reports, however, said earlier this month citing Naftogaz that the firm would seek to formalize agreements reached by the Ukrainian and Russian premiers in Poland in early September.
Yulia Tymoshenko and Vladimir Putin agreed that Ukraine would import less gas than stipulated in the January contracts that ended a dispute between the ex-Soviet allies, without paying any fines, and would increase its transit fees.
Russian gas supplies to the EU were interrupted for two weeks in January over a bitter pricing and debt row between Moscow and Kiev. Russia supplies about 80% of its Europe-bound gas via Ukraine.
President Viktor Yushchenko has insisted on the revision of the current gas deals with Russia claiming they threatened transits to the European Union.
Tymoshenko, a leading candidate in presidential elections due on January 17, has said the gas deals with Russia will not be reviewed, but additional documents could be signed. She also said Ukraine had stopped buying Russian gas for storage as it had sufficient supplies in its underground facilities to ensure the smooth transit to the EU this winter.
Tymoshenko said Kiev would buy around 25 billion cubic meters in 2010, half the agreed amount of gas stipulated in the contract, which runs until 2019. Naftogaz earlier said the transit fee could rise from the current $1.7 to $2.7 per 1,000 cu m per 100 km for Russian gas transits across Ukraine next year.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, called the new agreements with Ukraine Russia's "gesture of goodwill" which he hoped would help prevent a new gas crisis.
