Ukraine, Russia reach new deal on oil transit: officials

Russia and Ukraine have signed a new agreement on Russian oil transits via Ukraine to Europe for next year, a spokesman for Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Russian energy ministry in Moscow confirmed that a new agreement had been settled.

“Yesterday night everything fell into place. An additional agreement has been signed,” Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky said.

Naftogaz owns Ukraine’s state pipeline operator UkrTransNafta, which confirmed on Monday it was seeking to change the terms of a 2004 transit contract with Russia for oil shipments to the European Union.

The agreement foresees a rise in transit fees by 30 percent compared to this year, said Zemlyansky, adding Ukraine agreed to give up the so-called take-or-pay clause it had insisted on before, Zemlyansky said.

The amount of volumes to be shipped via the Druzhba pipeline will remain at the 2009 level of 15 million tonnes, he added.

The announcement comes hours after the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of abusing its position as a transit country.