* Ukraine says Russia agrees to a 30 percent tariff rise
* Russia confirms an agreement was signed
* EU says no more risk of supply cuts
* Putin criticises energy transit states
(Adds Putin comments, background)
By Pavel Polityuk and Anton Doroshev
KIEV/MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia have
signed a deal on oil transit for 2010, allaying fears of supply
cuts to Europe, in a deal Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz
says will require Moscow to pay 30 percent more in transit fees.
Russia said on Monday it had agreed terms for a new oil deal
with Ukraine a few hours after spooking Europe with a warning
the continent could face oil supply cuts because of a dispute
between Moscow and Kiev. []
"The rate has been increased by 30 percent," a Naftogaz
spokesman said on Tuesday. "There will be no crisis. We signed
an agreement last night."
A spokeswoman for the Russian Energy Ministry said: "I
confirm the fact of the signing." She gave no more details.
Europe, which receives much of its oil and gas from Russia,
has closely tracked disputes between Russia and its neighbours
after EU gas supplies were cut in the dead of winter in 2006 and
2009 due to rows between Russia and Ukraine.
"I am also very glad to note that the Russian and Ukrainian
sides have meanwhile found an agreement avoiding a disruption of
oil supplies to the EU," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs
said in a statement.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in the Far East to
open a new Pacific oil terminal, said Moscow was seeking to
diversify its export channels in a bid to avoid problems with
transit states, including Ukraine.
"We have long argued about the problems of gas supplies via
Ukraine and other transit countries. We understand very well and
now all our main consumers have also understood where the
problem lies," Putin told reporters in the city of Vladivostok.
"The problem lies in the fact transit countries abuse their
position," he said. "They create a grey market for re-sale, for
re-export of our energy resources."
His comments were aimed mainly at gas transit. Asked
specifically about oil, Putin said: "We have a contract. We hope
it will be fulfilled."
Naftogaz did not specify the oil tariff that Russia had
agreed to pay. A government source told Reuters the tariff would
be 6.6 euros ($9.50) per tonne of oil for the entire journey
through Ukraine in 2010 against $7.8 this year.
This would be a 21.8 percent increase in dollar terms.
Ukrainian officials were not able to explain the discrepancy
between the two percentage figures, which may be due to currency
conversions.
Ukrainian officials have said switching to euro payments
from the dollar had been one of their demands.
The source also said Kiev and Moscow had agreed that the
volume of oil -- going amongst others to Slovakia, the Czech
Republic and Hungary -- would be 15 million tonnes next year.
Russia transported 17.1 million tonnes of oil in 2008. The
figure for this year is as yet unknown.
(Additional reporting by Gleb Bryanski in Vladivostok, writing
by Sabina Zawadzki and Robin Paxton; editing by Anthony Barker)
