KIEV, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine will receive around 15 billion U.S. dollars over five years of Russian gas transit, Ukrainian Energy and Environmental Protection Minister Oleksiy Orzhel said in his article for Economicheskaya Pravda media on Tuesday.
Earlier, the minister said that the parties were able to reach gas transit deal during the trilateral gas talks that took place in Minsk on Dec. 20 with the participation of the European Commission, Ukraine and Russia.
The contract which ends after five years with a possible extension for ten years provides for guaranteed minimum transit volumes set at 65 billion cubic meters in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters in 2021-2024 each. Also, the Russian side agreed to pay the compensation ruled by the Stockholm Arbitration, which amounts to 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Ukraine is a key transit route for Russian gas to Europe. The current gas transit contract between Naftogaz and Gazprom that expires on Dec. 31, 2019 had threatened to disrupt supplies to Europe. Ukraine and Russia are expected to sign the contract by the end of 2019.
