Russia, Ukraine come close to energy accord: Putin

Russia and Ukraine are prepared to conclude an energy accord, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich on Thursday.

"It's very good news the energy experts have come close to final agreements," Putin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

"A series of documents are being prepared to be signed that is timed to my visit to Kiev on December 22," he said.

Kiev "is waiting for the Russian president," Yanukovich said.

"In the last three months trade turnover between the two countries increased by 300 million U.S. dollars," Yanukovich said.

The transit of Russian gas across Ukraine will be increased next year, as follows from an agreement concluded by Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Boiko and Russian gas giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller in Moscow, a source in the Ukrainian delegation said.

A transit accord was reached at the talks of Boiko and the oil company Transneft's president Semyon Vainshtok in Moscow on Thursday. "The increase will be 5 million tons within the framework of the Odessa-Brody project alone," Boiko said.

Ukrtransneft chairman of the board Igor Kiryushin said that after two-month talks with Transneft, it was decided to resume an accord on the transit of 9 million tons a year to Yuzhny port through the Odessa-Brody pipeline.

"At present, we are transporting 4 million tons a year, and volumes of oil transportation in this direction will be substantially increased beginning from January 1, 2007," Kiryushin said.

"As a result of the reached accords, Ukraine will get an additional 100 million hryvnia (about 20 million dollars)," Kiryushin said.

He said that the two companies would discuss transit prices in Kiev soon.

Gas transit to the European countries through Ukraine in January-September 2006 totaled nearly 85 billion cubic meters, six percent less than in the same period last year. Another 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas was exported to the CIS countries, 0.8 percent less than in the same period last year.

Russia remains the main trade partner of Ukraine, accounting for 21.4 percent of Ukraine's exports and 31.9 percent of its imports in the first nine months of this year.

In January-September, Russia exported 8.4 million tons of oil to Ukraine, which is more than half of all petroleum products imported by Kiev.

Source: Xinhua