Gazprom CEO Comments On Future Russian-Ukrainian Gas Transit Agreement

An agreement on Russian gas transit via Ukraine will be signed in the near future, Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom Alexey Miller declared at a briefing today. According to him, Russian and Ukrainian officials will discuss this matter this week. It is worth mentioning that Russia introduced several ideas about this project. In particular, it proposes to increase the cost of Russian gas supplies from $50 to $80 per 1,000 cubic meters, and the cost of its gas transit via Ukraine - from $1.09 to $1.75 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. In addition, Miller declared that the major part of Gazprom's investments would go to the gas production and gas transportation spheres next year. The volume of the investment program of the gas giant is expected to reach 161bn rubles (about $5.32bn) in 2002.