OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2011. From 1 January 2012, Ukraine almost twice will reduce the volume of purchases of Russian natural gas. The Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Yuriy Boyko said it in an interview to one of the TV channels.

"From January 1, purchases of Russian gas will be reduced two times. We have warned the Russian partners that our economy does not withstand such price for gas and we will pass on to its own energy resources," the Minister said.

Yuriy Boyko adjusted that next year it is planned to purchase 27 billion cubic meters of gas in the Russian Federation.

"We have made an application for 27 billion cubic meters of gas and from 1 January we start to pick gas pursuant to this application," he said.

Yuriy Boyko underlined that scheduled reduction in the volume of gas consumption in 2012 due to increasing prices of Russian gas.

"We told the Russian partners that we would reduce the volumes. If gas is cheaper, then we will buy more if it is so expensive, we will buy as much on how much we have enough money and replace it with own resources in the energy balance," the Minister noted.

According to Yuriy Boyko, as a replacement to the Russian gas, Ukraine plans to use the coal, production of which in 2011 reached a record high of 81 million tons.

"We are passing to own resource - coal. This year for the first time for a decade we have reached more than 80 million tons of its extraction. We will refuse to gas and pass to coal," the Minister said.