Naftogaz settles gas bill on time

Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said it transferred $477 million to Russian natural gas company Gazprom to settle its July gas bill. Naftogaz announced it settled its July gas debt to Gazprom on time. The June bill for natural gas was nearly twice the amount of its obligations from July, the National Radio Company of Ukraine reports.Ukraine under the terms of a deal brokered in 2009 is required to pay its gas payments to Russia by the first week of the month or face stiff penalties. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now an opposition figure, helped broker that deal to end an impasse over debts and contracts that saw Gazprom shut off natural gas supplies to her country. Western leaders last week condemned a decision to send Tymoshenko to jail as a case against her in connection to that deal unfolds. Current leaders complain her deal was a drag on the Ukrainian economy and was brokered without proper consent. Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine in June were about half what they were in July.