Ukraine looking for cheaper natural gas

Ukraine is looking to European partners for natural gas because of the "unjustified" price charged by Russian energy company Gazprom, the president said. Ukraine pays about $417 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas from Russia under the terms of a bilateral deal reached in 2009. That agreement ended a stalemate that left downstream consumers in the cold but pegged the price of natural gas to crude oil. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych told Russian news channel Rossiya 24 that the price was unreasonable. "We are unable to pay such unjustified price for the gas," he said. "This is wrong and unfair." Yanukovych said he felt $250 per 1,000 cubic meters was something more in line with Ukraine's expectations. Ukrainian State energy company Naftogaz is in talks with Germany, Romania and Turkey to reduce the amount of natural gas imported from Russia, the Ukrainian government added. Kiev said prices from those countries would be about $25 cheaper by volume than Russian natural gas.