Companies of the Naftogaz Group have paid around UAH 4 billion of prepayment for the provision of transit services and internal transportation of natural gas to Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), GTSOU Director General Serhiy Makogon has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"We received three amounts. The largest is a monthly prepayment for transit, in accordance with the tariffs approved by the regulator (the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation, NCER], based on the calculation of transit of 178 million cubic meters per day. We received this fee in full – several billion hryvnias. Then we received money from Naftogaz for internal transportation, since Naftogaz is a supplier of gas to heating suppliers and households. We also received money from Ukrgazvydobuvannia as an advance payment for transportation of gas produced by them. All three sums total about UAH 4 billion," he said.

Makogon noted the importance of the agreements reached and signed at the end of December last year, according to which Gazprom pays for a daily capacity of 178 million cubic meter at the entrance and exit points of the Ukrainian GTS in accordance with the "pump or pay" principle even despite the smaller applications submitted in January.

"The most important thing is that they pay us for 178 million cubic meters per day, although we pump less. Moreover, we even save on fuel gas. We do not need to turn on some units," the head of the GTSOU said.

According to him, the annual capacity fixed in the contract for 2020 is 65 billion cubic meters is an even flow throughout the year – 178 million cubic meters per day.

"If Gazprom wants more, then he will submit an application to Naftogaz, and it may additionally buy quarterly, monthly or daily capacities, but they will be with the multiplying factors approved by the NCER. Accordingly, the same multiplying factors are set for Gazprom… And Naftogaz in all cases gets its margin," Makogon said.