Ukrainians will sharply reduce Russian gas imports

Ukrainian Prime Minister Alexander Azarov said on the 30th that Uzbekistan intends to significantly reduce Russia’s natural gas imports in the next few years as the price of natural gas imported from Russia continues to increase pressure on Uzbekistan’s economy.

Azarov said at a meeting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov that due to the continuous increase in natural gas prices, Ukraine is now using coal to be more economical than natural gas, and Uzbekistan plans to reduce Russia’s natural gas imports by three points in the next few years. of two.

He said that the current price of natural gas in Russia is about 400 U.S. dollars, and the Russians stated that it is possible to increase prices further on the basis of this price. Therefore, "We have no choice but to replace the natural gas in the national boiler house. coal".

Earlier this month, Yuri Boyko, the Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Mining, disclosed that Uzbekistan is seeking to reduce Russia's annual natural gas imports to 12 billion cubic meters within five years.

According to reports, Ukraine is ready to expand the exploitation of natural gas on the Black Sea shelf and implement plans to save energy and use coal to replace natural gas. As a result, the country’s natural gas consumption will be greatly reduced, thereby reducing the demand for natural gas in Russia.

It is reported that 60% of natural gas consumed by Ukraine comes from Russia. In 2010, Ukraine imported approximately 36.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia.