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Kiev’s Proposal on Gas Considered

KIEV — The government is considering Ukraine's proposal to revise how gas is priced in the supply contract between the countries, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Friday.

"We are considering the proposal of the Ukrainian side as to approaches to changing principles of price formation," Shmatko told reporters. "The attitude of the Russian side to the request of the Ukrainian side on this issue is amicable."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Sept. 3 that his government was seeking a revision of the current formula and hoped to have a new gas agreement in 2011.

Both countries signed a 10-year gas supply and transit contract in 2009, ending a two-week halt in Europe-bound gas deliveries during freezing January temperatures.

In April, Russia gave Ukraine a $100 discount per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in exchange for extending the lease on a Black Sea naval base.

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