OREANDA-NEWS. December 8, 2010. Dmitriy Firtash, the co-owner of RosUkrEnergo (RUE), has stated that natural gas (12.1 Mcm) received by RUE from Naftogaz has been sold to Gazprom-export for further resale to Europe, Focus magazine reported Dec 7. Simultaneously, he disclosed the payment scheme between Gazprom, RUE and Naftogaz. Having received the gas, RUE has sold it to Gazprom-export who provided the funds to repay USD  1.7bn and USD 810mn of RUE’s debt to Naftohaz and Gazprom, respectively. Besides the former is still to receive USD  450mn from RUE for storage and transportation of its gas.

Millennium Capital considers the news as NEGATIVE for Stirol. The sale of gas to Gazprom-export virtually eliminates Stirol’s chances to get any gas from RUE with discount which undermines the current market valuation of the stock. Most likely the company will have to source the natural gas from Naftogaz at high regular tariff current.