Ukr. Speaker Says To Pay Russia $240-250 For Gas

Lytvyn said the price would be calculated by taking into account forecast declines in the price of both gas and oil.

The chairman of Ukraine's parliament said on Monday the ex-Soviet state would pay Russia an average of $240-250 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in 2009, much less than the prices previously proposed by Russia.

Volodymyr Lytvyn, quoted by UNIAN news agency, said he based his calculation on discussions with the head of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz ahead of the expected signature of the gas deal in Moscow by the two countries' prime ministers.

"The approximate cost throughout the year -- if the agreement is signed -- will be in the area of $240-250," Lytvyn told a news conference. Ukraine paid $179.5 per 1,000 cubic metres (tcm) in 2008.

Russia cut off its gas supply to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after its gas export monopoly, Gazprom, failed to agree a price with Naftogaz for shipments in 2009.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian opposite number, Vladimir Putin, agreed at the weekend after lengthy talks that Ukraine would get its 2009 supplies at a 20 percent discount to European gas prices.

Gazprom had said it wanted Ukraine to pay European-level prices of up to $450 per tcm. A 20 percent reduction would give a price of $360, though European market prices are expected to fall sharply later in the year as they follow oil.

Lytvyn said the price would be calculated by taking into account forecast declines in the price of both gas and oil. "I therefore hope that we will achieve what we set out to do when we started," he told reporters.

The deal is expected to be signed later on Monday, and neither side has yet spoken of a specific price.

Bohdan Sokolovsky, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's envoy on energy security, said Naftogaz head Oleh Dubyna had a mandate to sign a contract with Russia.

Ukraine's government, meanwhile, issued a statement saying Gazprom and Naftogaz would sign a deal in Moscow calling for direct supplies without intermediaries.

A Russian government source had earlier said the two sides had agreed not to use intermediaries in their gas trade.