Ukraine hopes the price it pays for Russian gas will not change, Acting Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said on Monday.

"We hope that the price (of Russian gas) will be stable," Stavytsky said.

Russia agreed in December to reduce the gas price for Kiev to $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, a cut of about one-third from the roughly $400 that Ukraine had paid since 2009. The reduction was part of a wider financial deal Moscow signed with Kiev after Ukraine spurned an EU trade deal.

Two sources at Gazprom - a Ukrainian energy company - told Reuters the company had no immediate plans to return to the previous gas price for Kiev.

"But this is not for Gazprom to decide," one of the sources said.

A Gazprom official declined to comment on the issue of price but said gas transit to Europe, which is getting about a quarter of its gas needs from Russia, is being pumped "in full volumes".

Reuters

(China Daily 02/25/2014 page12)