OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy are holding talks in Vienna on Russian-Ukrainian gas cooperation on Friday. The meeting is attended by the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller and the leadership of Naftogaz Ukrainy, a Russian media correspondent reports from the scene.

As expected, the main topic will be the extension of the contract for gas transit from the Russian Federation to Europe through the Ukrainian territory after 2019, since the current ten-year agreement expires at the end of the year. Earlier, the executive director of Naftogaz Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko stated that December 13 is the deadline for concluding a contract for the long-term reservation of transit capacities of the Ukrainian gas transmission system.

Previous bilateral talks took place on November 28 in Vienna. They were attended by Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine Oleksiy Orzhel, Gazprom Chairman of the Board Aleksey Miller, leaders of Naftogaz Ukrainy and OOO Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine.

It was noted that the parties discussed Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in the gas sector, "the settlement of mutual claims for the execution of contracts, the conditions for the transit of Russian gas to Europe since 2020, the prospects for direct purchase of Russian gas for Ukrainian consumers".