Wednesday's gas deal between Russia and Ukraine met with applause from Europe and the United States, with all sides bracing for a new phase of the energy era.

Hours after the announcement of the deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the accord will have a positive impact on Russian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and "create stable conditions for the supply of Russian fuel to west European partners for many years to come."

Putin's Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, who had previously

resisted the Russian demand to more than quadruple the price of gas for Ukraine, also welcomed the resolution.

"The Ukrainian economy is well prepared to operate in the new market conditions," Yushchenko's press service quoted him as saying.

"Ukraine is a reliable and stable partner both for the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation," he said.

The EU affirmed the Russia-Ukraine deal with relief, vowing to learn a lesson from the gas dispute and examine other energy sources in case of similar crises in the future.

Ukraine serves as a transit territory for Russia's natural gas pipe-lines to Europe.

The 25-nation European bloc held an emergency meeting of the EU Gas Co-ordination Group on Wednesday in Brussels, which was the first time the body had been convened.

The gathering, originally planned to explore a way out of the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, turned into a celebration as the two parties reached a deal prior to the meeting.

Martin Bartenstein, economic minister of the current EU presidential country Austria, said: "Russian gas remains the backbone of the EU's energy supply but certainly we will have to learn a lesson from what has happened in the last few days."

He estimated that the EU's dependence on Russia's energy might not change for years, with some member states importing 50 percent of their gas from Russia.

The EU should focus more on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, he stressed.

Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Energy, said he would table proposals for the EU's energy development strategy at the Union's spring summit, due in mid-March.

German Economics Minister Michael Glos said Wednesday that with the end of the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Germany will have to seriously consider securing domestic sources of energy so as to ensure meeting future needs.

"We have to fundamentally think about how we can secure our energy supply over the long-term with energy sources from Germany, " he said.

Germany, one of the so-called EU troika alongside France and Britain, has depended heavily on energy imports from Russia, with 36 percent of its natural gas and over 25 percent of its crude oil coming from Russia.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, the United States acclaimed the settlement of the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, calling for greater transparency and efficiency in the European energy sector.

"One thing that we hope emerges from this episode is that it will stimulate longer-term efforts to increase the transparency, openness and efficiency in the energy sectors of the region," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Russia and Ukraine struck a five-year deal on gas deliveries on Wednesday, three days after Russia cut off the gas supply to Ukraine at the height of a bitter pricing dispute.

The United States expressed concern over the natural gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine after the former shut down its gas supply to Ukraine on Sunday, saying "such an abrupt step creates insecurity in the energy sector of the region and raises serious questions about the use of energy to exert political pressure."

Under the deal between Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Ukraine's oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy, Gazprom will sell gas for 230 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters to the Rosukrenergo trading company, which will mix the Russian gas with cheaper gas from Central Asia and sell the blend to Ukraine for 95 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

Ukraine had been buying Russian gas at 50 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters over the past year.

The two sides also agreed on a new price for the transit of gas through Ukraine to Europe of 1.60 dollars for every 1,000 cubic meters to travel 100 km, up by nearly 50 percent from the previous price of 1.09 dollars.

Source: Xinhua