As of September 21, 1999 the debt of the Naftohaz Ukrayiny National Joint Stock Company for Russian natural gas was $999.4 million. This sum includes the inherited debt of 1997 and 1998 along with, the liabilities of wholesale gas buyers and the cost of gas received in 1999 from the Itera International Economic Concern.
Specifically, as a competent source in Naftohaz told the Interfax-Ukraine Agency, the company owed $662.3 million to Russian Gazprom for gas received in 1997 and 1998, taking into account the products shipped to offset that debt, and $83.4 million, to Itera. The liabilities under contracts with wholesale gas buyers (including Motor-Sich, United Energy Systems of Ukraine, Interhaz, and the Sigma Center) amount to $253.7 million.
As of January 1, 1999 Naftohaz owed Gazprom $716.7 for gas received in 1997 and 1998, while the debt of other wholesale buyers of Russian gas was then $323.9 million. During this year the debt of Naftohaz to Gazprom has not grown, because the Russian company supplied natural gas only as payment for gas transit across Ukrainian territory. Over eight months, a total of $10.8 million has been transferred as debt repayment, mutual offsets have been made for a total of $116.7 million, and products shipped in the amount of over $7 million.
On the other hand, in February 1999 and December 1998, Russian gas was withdrawn from pipelines beyond the amount stipulated by contract, and the company regards this gas as a commodity credit of 1.02 billion and 1.5 billion cubic meters respectively, which were not officially documented by this gas owner.
In 1999, Itera supplied Ukraine a total of 1.8 billion of cubic meters of natural gas worth $88.3 million, and 4.6 billion cubic meters worth $225.4 million as payment for natural gas transit by Gazprom across Ukraine.
Naftohaz points to the fact that before July 1, 1999 Ukraine was supposed to supply Russia with food, material, and technical resources worth $1 billion in repayment of its debt for natural gas, as stipulated by Ukrainian-Russian agreements reached in October- November 1998. However, Russia's long delay in deciding on the mechanism needed for delivering goods to pay debts, prevented such deliveries, while the uncertainty on adopting the procedure for financing the federal budget expenditures relating to Ukrainian foodstuffs, material, and technical resources in 1999, made it impossible to carry out mutual offsets.






