Azarov and Medvedev to raise an issue of gas pumping into Ukrainian storages

The issue of gas accumulation in Ukrainian underground storages will be discussed at the meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Ukraine and Russia, Nicolay Azarov and Dmitry Medvedev, which is scheduled for Friday in Sochi, the Kommersant-Ukraina reports on Wednesday, referring to a source in the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.

The day before, the international rating agency Fitch reported that stoppage of Gazprom’s advance payments to Naftogaz for the transit of gas through the Ukraine created an opportunity for disruption in the gas supplies in South-Eastern Europe because of the low level of gas reserves in the Ukrainian storages. At the end of June, Gazprom reported that it would give an advance payment in the amount of $1 billion to Naftogas for the purchase of gas for its pumping into underground storages, but the company won’t advance the Ukraine on account of payment for the transit after January 1, 2015.