MOSCOW/KIEV - Russia said it would resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine at 0700 GMT (2 a.m. EST) on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after a Moscow-Kiev contract row cut flows to European countries in mid-winter.
The order to start pumping gas again followed the signing of a 10-year gas contract between Moscow and Kiev and late-night talks between Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russia's Gazprom gas export monopoly.
Officials have said it would take 36 hours or more after the restart for the pipeline system to become operational again and for gas to reach Europe, parts of which have had to ration supplies to households and businesses because of the dispute.
"From 10 a.m. (2 a.m. EST) on January 20, Gazprom and (Ukrainian state energy company) Naftogaz will start to bring the system into normal operation for supply and transit," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters.
"(This is) in accordance with instructions which were issued at 4 a.m. by the heads of the two companies," he said after the talks between Tymoshenko and Gazprom officials, which lasted until the early hours of Tuesday.
The European Union, which tried with mounting frustration over the past two weeks to broker a deal, said it would not consider the crisis over until its monitors verified that gas had reached the bloc.
"For the EU, the decisive moment will come when renewed supplies are registered at its borders," Martin Riman, industry minister for the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said on Monday.
Russia will also resume pumping gas to Ukraine itself, cut off on New Year's Day and surviving on dwindling stockpiles.
Even once supplies resume, the effects are likely to linger. Russia's standing as an energy supplier is under new scrutiny and Europe is exasperated that its gas flows were blocked by two neighbors deeply divided over Kiev's ambition to join NATO.
Russia provides about a quarter of Europe's gas requirements and pumps 80 percent of this via Ukraine. A contract row three years ago also caused supply problems, though that time the dispute was resolved after a few days with minimum disruption.
UKRAINE DEAL
Russian media quoted Tymoshenko as saying after her talks in Moscow that under the new contract her country would pay about $230 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in 2009.
That is a figure that officials in Ukraine, struggling with a deep economic slump, say they can just about afford to pay. Gazprom has yet to announce the price set out in the new contract. Kiev paid $179.5 for its gas last year.
Russia cut flows to Ukraine on New Year's Day because Kiev would not pay higher prices for the gas it uses. Six days later, export flows to Europe through Ukraine also ceased after Russia accused Kiev of siphoning off gas intended for export.
Ukraine's pro-Western leaders denied stealing gas, and countered that Moscow was trying to blackmail European customers by halting gas supplies.
The supply disruptions hit about 20 countries across Europe. France, Britain and Germany drew on large reserves and alternative supplies to escape any serious problems.
But countries in Eastern Europe, including several with close ties to Russia, bore the brunt.
Slovakia's government said the disruptions forced about 1,000 companies to shut down or cut operations, and it briefly considered restarting a Soviet-era nuclear reactor. In Bulgaria, many households were left without adequate heating.
European hopes for a swift resolution were frustrated last week when an EU-brokered deal to restart Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine collapsed amid mutual recriminations.
Officials say the latest deal should be more robust because, unlike the previous agreement which covered only transit, it includes a new gas supply contract between Moscow and Kiev.
The contract allows Ukraine to buy gas at a 20 percent discount on European prices in 2009, while the transit fee Russia pays to ship the fuel to Europe via Ukraine stays unchanged at $1.7 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 km.
The deal also eliminates middlemen from the gas trade. RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based joint venture between Gazprom and two Ukrainian businessmen, acted as intermediary for gas sales and had complicated previous efforts to reach a deal.
The signing of a 10-year contract is likely to reassure European customers who up to now have had to endure annual wrangles over contract renewal which carried with them the threat of supply disruptions.
The order to start pumping gas again followed the signing of a 10-year gas contract between Moscow and Kiev and late-night talks between Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russia's Gazprom gas export monopoly.
Officials have said it would take 36 hours or more after the restart for the pipeline system to become operational again and for gas to reach Europe, parts of which have had to ration supplies to households and businesses because of the dispute.
"From 10 a.m. (2 a.m. EST) on January 20, Gazprom and (Ukrainian state energy company) Naftogaz will start to bring the system into normal operation for supply and transit," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters.
"(This is) in accordance with instructions which were issued at 4 a.m. by the heads of the two companies," he said after the talks between Tymoshenko and Gazprom officials, which lasted until the early hours of Tuesday.
The European Union, which tried with mounting frustration over the past two weeks to broker a deal, said it would not consider the crisis over until its monitors verified that gas had reached the bloc.
"For the EU, the decisive moment will come when renewed supplies are registered at its borders," Martin Riman, industry minister for the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said on Monday.
Russia will also resume pumping gas to Ukraine itself, cut off on New Year's Day and surviving on dwindling stockpiles.
Even once supplies resume, the effects are likely to linger. Russia's standing as an energy supplier is under new scrutiny and Europe is exasperated that its gas flows were blocked by two neighbors deeply divided over Kiev's ambition to join NATO.
Russia provides about a quarter of Europe's gas requirements and pumps 80 percent of this via Ukraine. A contract row three years ago also caused supply problems, though that time the dispute was resolved after a few days with minimum disruption.
UKRAINE DEAL
Russian media quoted Tymoshenko as saying after her talks in Moscow that under the new contract her country would pay about $230 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in 2009.
That is a figure that officials in Ukraine, struggling with a deep economic slump, say they can just about afford to pay. Gazprom has yet to announce the price set out in the new contract. Kiev paid $179.5 for its gas last year.
Russia cut flows to Ukraine on New Year's Day because Kiev would not pay higher prices for the gas it uses. Six days later, export flows to Europe through Ukraine also ceased after Russia accused Kiev of siphoning off gas intended for export.
Ukraine's pro-Western leaders denied stealing gas, and countered that Moscow was trying to blackmail European customers by halting gas supplies.
The supply disruptions hit about 20 countries across Europe. France, Britain and Germany drew on large reserves and alternative supplies to escape any serious problems.
But countries in Eastern Europe, including several with close ties to Russia, bore the brunt.
Slovakia's government said the disruptions forced about 1,000 companies to shut down or cut operations, and it briefly considered restarting a Soviet-era nuclear reactor. In Bulgaria, many households were left without adequate heating.
European hopes for a swift resolution were frustrated last week when an EU-brokered deal to restart Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine collapsed amid mutual recriminations.
Officials say the latest deal should be more robust because, unlike the previous agreement which covered only transit, it includes a new gas supply contract between Moscow and Kiev.
The contract allows Ukraine to buy gas at a 20 percent discount on European prices in 2009, while the transit fee Russia pays to ship the fuel to Europe via Ukraine stays unchanged at $1.7 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 km.
The deal also eliminates middlemen from the gas trade. RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based joint venture between Gazprom and two Ukrainian businessmen, acted as intermediary for gas sales and had complicated previous efforts to reach a deal.
The signing of a 10-year contract is likely to reassure European customers who up to now have had to endure annual wrangles over contract renewal which carried with them the threat of supply disruptions.
