Gazprom's export chief rejected suggestions on September 27 that a Ukrainian demand for price concessions would lead to a new "gas war", even while Russia's gas export monopoly drives a hard bargain with struggling European consumers and gas hungry China.
Ukraine is hardly alone in seeking price concessions. Some of Gazprom's biggest customers are facing billion dollar losses this year on gas bought at prices linked to soaring oil under long-term Russian supply contracts.
Price disputes between the two, however, have twice led to cuts in gas supplied via Ukraine to Europe in the past five years.
Gazprom sees "no reason" that Ukraine's current demands for a price cut could escalate to a price war with Russia, Gazpromexport Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev told Reuters in an interview on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, where Gazprom operates Sakhalin-2, Russia's only liquefied natural gas project.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Monday that Russia had agreed to review the contract, concluded under the previous government. The current government says it has saddled the country with an exorbitant gas bill it cannot pay.
Azarov said Russia had also agreed to establish a consortium with the European Union to manage Ukraine's pipelines, which could in theory reduce the need for a bypass pipeline.
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