KIEV, Ukraine (AFX) - Ukraine will stop purchasing Russian natural gas beginning next year, instead opting for cheaper gas from Central Asian states, an energy official said Saturday.
Ukraine currently pays $95 (euro74) per 1,000 cubic meters of a mix of more expensive Russian gas and cheaper Turkmen imports which it receives through an intermediary company.
In order to avoid an anticipated major price hike from Russia next year, Ukraine has agreed to buy the needed 57.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for US$95 (euro74) per 1,000 cubic meters, said Dmytro Marunich, spokesman for Ukraine's state-owned gas company Naftogaz.
'There is no need to buy from anybody else,' Marunich told The Associated Press.
Energy Minister Yuri Boyko stressed, however, that the decision will not disrupt deliveries of Russian gas to European consumers. Some 80 percent of Russian gas exports to Europe go through Ukraine.
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