OREANDA-NEWS. January 21, 2009. Head of the Strategic Research Institute Yury Ruban believes there is a chance that Naftogaz of Ukraine will be able to compete with Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprom Sbyt Ukraine if information is confirmed about increasing the latter's share on the Ukrainian gas market. Yury Ruban said at a press conference in Kiev that Gazprom's subsidiary will be able to offer the largest

Ukrainian consumers more profitable terms, for instance, payment by installments, thus leaving problem customers to Naftogaz. In addition, he stressed that the Ukrainian company is opaque, as it is difficult to find out what processes are going on at Naftogaz of Ukraine, specifically, how income is generated and what costs are. As reported earlier, Gazprom's spokespersons said Tuesday that part of agreements signed earlier provide for boosting the share of Gazprom Sbyt Ukraine on the Ukrainian market of gas sales to industrial users. Meanwhile, Ukrainian PM Julia Timoshenko said that operations of Gazprom Sbyt Ukraine have yet to be discussed and Fuel and Energy Minister Yury Prodan projected the share of this company to shrink in 2009.