Serhiy Liovochkin, the chief of staff at the Yanukovych administration, said talks were needed to renegotiate the 10-year gas agreement.
"Our priority at the talks is to reduce [as much as possible] the price of imported gas," Liovochkin said in comments aired by state television late Wednesday. "Ukraine will also seek to hike fees charged for the transit and to increase volume of gas shipments," he said.
The comments come a day after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flatly ruled out any further price discounts for Ukraine, saying that the price was already low enough.
"Well, what else can we do? It is enough as it is," Putin told Komskomolskaya Pravda daily in an interview published on Tuesday.
Ukraine's position outlined by Liovochkin adds insult to the injury for the Russians by seeking not only lower gas prices, but also seeking to charge them more for shipments of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
Ukraine, which operates one of the largest gas transportation systems in the world, is the biggest shipper of Russian gas to markets in Europe.
'NO OTHER OPTIONS': PM
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who is in charge of the talks with Russia, said the 10-year gas agreement was extremely unfavorable and had to be changed.
"We are in talks. They are not easy [they are] complicated, but we do not have other options because the agreement does not correspond to the realities of the market," Azarov said on Wednesday.
"That's why we will be looking for [persuasive] arguments," he said. "We still have time to persuade our Russian partners. I think we will find the arguments."
The 10-year gas agreement was negotiated by then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Putin in January 2009.
Tymoshenko was replaced with Azarov in March after she had lost the presidential election to Yanukovych in February.
In April Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed a deal that provides a 30% price discount for Ukraine for the next 10 years in exchange for extending the stationing of the Russian navy in Sevastopol by 25 years through 2042.
Ukraine has been buying Russian gas at $330/1,000 cu m in the second quarter, but the price declined to about $236/1,000 cu m after the deal was ratified in Ukrainian and Russian parliaments on April 27.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter the price increased to about $248/1,000 cu m, according to the government.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
