Norway Offers Gas to Ukraine

Norway is considering supplying natural gas to Ukraine as an alternative to Russian natural gas supplies, a Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy expert said on Thursday. “If our potential partners from Ukraine turn to us for immediate aid, we’ll no doubt render it. Export prices of gas transported form Norway will be calculated on maximally privileged terms for Kiev,” Ingmar Sundstrom said in an interview with the Ukrainian news agency GolosUA. Norway currently holds hundreds of thousands of cubic metes of natural gas in its storage facilities, which Ukraine will be able to use day and night, Sundstrom said. Transit costs would be high however, he said, due to the absence of a direct pipeline between the two countries and relatively high costs for gas transportation by sea or land. Ukraine has been seeking a revision in the 2009 gas deal with Russia since last spring, saying that the contract's gas price formula is unfair. Russia has tied the price for gas to the international spot price for oil, which has been rising strongly recently due to the instability in the Middle East. Kiev insists on reducing both the price and the volume of gas imports from Russia.