Gazprom to raise bills for Ukraine

Russian energy company Gazprom said Tuesday it would raise by $100 per 1,000 cubic meters the amount it would charge Ukraine for natural gas. Ukraine in December secured a 30 percent discount for the amount of gas delivered by Gazprom. The company's chief executive officer, Alexei Miller, said Tuesday the discount no longer applied and Ukraine could be charged another $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, the standard purchase volume. "In line with the current contract on delivering gas, the price for Ukraine in the second quarter [of 2014] will be $385.50," he said. Gazprom in 2009 cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of contractual disputes. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the economy is in ruins, though Gazprom said Kiev still has around $1.7 billion in unpaid gas debts. European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Gazprom, though the majority of that gas runs through the Soviet-era transit system in Ukraine. A deal to break the 2009 impasse left Ukraine with some of the highest gas bills in the region. European buyers pay on average $370 per 1,000 cubic meters for Russian gas.