Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Moscow, August 6 (Interfax) - Ukraine's state gas firm Naftogaz has paid in full for Russian gas supplied in July, Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom said in a statement.

"Naftogaz Ukrainy has paid in full for gas supplied in July," Gazprom said, confirming what Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said yesterday that Ukraine had paid $605 million for Russian gas supplied in July. She said Ukraine had found the funds required to make payments for Russian gas supplied in July partly by refunding VAT to the state gas firm Naftogaz.

Russia supplied gas to Ukraine at a top price of $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in Q1 2009, falling to $270.95 in Q2 and $198.34 in Q3.

A long-term supply contract signed in January states that Ukraine was supposed to buy five billion cubic meters of gas in Q1 2009, ten billion cubic meters, in Q2, 12 billion cubic meters in Q3 and 12.5 billion cubic meters in Q4. But Ukraine bought 50% of contract volumes on average in Q1 and 60% in Q2.

Naftogaz has asked Gazprom to lower contract purchase volumes from 40 billion cubic meters to 33 billion cubic meters in 2009 as a whole, but has so far received verbal consent for this only.

Naftogaz brings together Ukraine's biggest oil and gas production enterprises. It is the country's gas transit and storage monopoly, and the monopoly oil pipeline operator.

The company said on Wednesday that it had now formed a subsidiary, Naftogaz merezhi, to run local and regional state-owned gas distribution networks.

The government on June 10 ordered that the country's 43 gas utilities be transferred to Naftogaz to improve the holding's financial state and control over gas distribution.