Russia's Gazprom resumes gas supplies to Ukraine

[MOSCOW] Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom has resumed supplies to Ukraine, Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a statement on Monday, after deliveries were halted in July over a pricing dispute between Moscow and Kiev.

Gazprom accounts for around a third of Europe's gas needs and typically about half of that is pumped via Ukraine, which has had several disputes with Moscow over prices in the past decade.

Miller said that gas supplies resumed (at 0700 GMT) after Gazprom received US$234 million out of a total of US$500 million expected in pre-payment for October gas deliveries.

Gazprom halted gas supplies to Ukraine in July after Kiev failed to make prepayments.

Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed a tentative deal on a so-called "winter package", agreeing technical details.

On Friday, Gazprom said that Ukraine has requested 2 billion cubic metres of gas for October.

REUTERS