OREANDA-NEWS. Naftogaz does not plan to resume gas purchases from Gazprom starting from 1 April 2016 as the Russian supplier's gas price for Q2 2016 makes it uncompetitive compared to terms available to Naftogaz from its European suppliers. Furthermore, Gazprom has rejected the suggestion of Naftogaz to extend the winter package, a set of arrangements that regulate interim conditions of Russian gas supply to Ukraine.

Naftogaz remains open to negotiations that would bring conditions of Russian gas supply to the market terms. The transmission of natural gas from Russia will continue uninterruptedly to European consumers in line with the contract terms and the applicable legislation.

Naftogaz stopped purchasing gas from Gazprom on 25 November 2015, due to the decrease of gas prices in the European market. The winter package terms between Naftogaz and Gazprom remained in effect until 31 March 2016. However, Naftogaz did not purchase gas in Q1 2016 either because the price offered by the Russian side for this period was higher compared to gas prices at which Naftogaz purchased gas in the European market.

As of 31 March 2016, Ukraine has not been importing natural gas from Russia for 125 days, including - for the first time - for the three winter months. Over this period, European consumers received nearly 27 billion m3 of natural gas transported from Russia via Ukraine. The transportation proceeded without any interruptions and in full compliance with the respective obligations of Naftogaz.