OREANDA-NEWS. Ukraine overpaid about $ 1.5 billion for natural gas supplied to the country by the so-called reverse schemes from Europe. This was stated at a press conference by Verkhovna Rada deputy (non-factional) Andrei Derkach. "For five years, according to the most conservative estimates of experts, Ukraine overpaid almost $ 1.5 billion for the so-called "European" gas. Most of this amount settled in the pockets of the organizers of the scheme and, presumably, Naftogaz officials", the deputy said.

Derkach explained that Naftogaz is announcing the acquisition of the so-called "European gas", but in fact it is about Russian gas that crosses the western state border of Ukraine, most often with Slovakia, and returns to the country as "European".

The deputy said that over 3.5 years (from 2015 to 2018), the average gas price in Europe was about $ 210 per thousand cubic meters, while Naftogaz purchased it at an average price of $ 245, so the difference was $ 35 per thousand cubic meters. And from July 2018 to April 2019, the average gas price in the EU was $ 238.5 per thousand cubic meters, while Ukraine imported an average of $ 288.5 per resource, and the overpayment amounted to $ 50 per thousand cubic meters.