Gazprom and Ukraine Cut Out Middlemen

Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine have agreed to remove all intermedi­aries in gas trade between the two neighbors, a Gazprom spokesman said on Thursday.

“There is no need for them now after we agreed to supply Ukraine’s industrial consumers directly with some volumes and given the upcom­ing rise in the Central Asian gas price,” Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters.

Gazprom and Ukraine’s state ener­gy firm Naftogas reached a final gas agreement on Thursday after two days of talks in Moscow.

Gazprom said it will sell Ukraine gas it imports from Central Asia at a price of $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters until the end of the year.

Russian gas, including the volumes already supplied in January-­February, would cost 315 per 1,000 cubic meters, but Ukraine will be allowed to pay for it by returning vol­umes from its underground storage.

Gazprom said it would be able to directly supply Ukraine’s industrial consumers with no less than 7.5 bil­lion cubic meters of gas per year - less than analysts had anticipated. Gazprom said talks on the terms of supplies in 2009 will continue.

The Moscow News (870)

16. Read and translate the following nets of the English words:

partner­ - partner­ship; to agree – agreement; to supply – supply; to talk – talks; to store – storage.

17. Translate the following word combinations. Pay attention to the prepositions:

in gas trade, after two days of talks in Moscow, at a price of $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, to supply consumers with 7.5 bil­lion cubic meters of gas per year, until the end of the year, talks on the terms of supplies.

18. Match up the words in column A with their synonyms in column B:

A B

1. intermedi­aries a. can

2. talks b. middlemen

3. to be able c. negotiations

4. be allowed d. to expect

5. to anticipate e. may

19. Write out the English equivalents from the text:

представитель Газпрома, торговля между двумя соседями, посредники в торговле газом, поставлять газ промышленным потребителям без посредников (прямо), достигли окончательного соглашения, переговоры по условиям поставки продолжаться.

20. What is the main idea of text 2?

21. Read and translate the text.:

TEXT 3