Ukraine is ready to talk with Russia about gas supplies from its independent producers in its pursuit of diversified energy sources, according to the Economic Izvestia daily published here on Friday.

Anatoly Kinakh, the head of Ukraine's Security Council, was quoted as saying that many Russian independent producers "want to supply us with gas at reasonable prices," including LUKOIL and TNK-BP.

"We are talking about a more liberalized market" to supply dozens of billions of cubic meters every year, said the official.

Kiev unveiled a long-term national energy diversification strategy in March after the Russian energy giant Gazprom temporarily cut supplies to Ukraine over a natural gas price dispute at the beginning of this year.

The strategy entails a plan to reduce Ukraine's consumption of natural gas from a yearly 76 billion cubic meters to 50 billion cubic meters, while increasing its own natural gas yield from 20 billion cubic meters per year to 30 billion cubic meters before 2030.

LUKOIL and TNK-BP had reportedly previously attempted to compete with Gazprom over free access to customers abroad, but in vain.

Source: Xinhua