Delivery Interruption from Russia Unlikely, Says Oettinger

EU, Russia and Ukraine agreed that there would be no interruption of delivery 'as long as talks are ongoing,' the European Commission wrote on Monday evening commenting on the trilateral meeting on energy security between EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan.

‘Real progress has been made. Intensive discussions led to a bilateral meeting between the CEOs of Gazprom and Naftogaz who discussed key commercial issues for a settlement of the ongoing gas supply questions,’ reads a note released on Monday. 

Parties also agreed that ‘as long as these talks are ongoing,’ there would be no prepayment for gas deliveries for June. At the same time, they ruled out the possibility of Ukraine going to Stockholm for arbitration.

A few hours later, late at night, Naftogaz confirmed the talks, but restated the possibility of seeking arbitration. 

Earlier on Monday, Gazprom confirmed it received 786 million USD from Naftogaz. The news increased confidence and made a solution more likely. 

Last week, the Russian company voiced its intention to stop gas flow unless Naftogaz payed $2 billion before the end of the previous week. Ukrainian payment went through on Friday and was recorded on Monday.