Ukraine to pay similar gas price in 2010 - PM

KIEV Nov 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine will pay similar prices for Russian gas imports next year to those it paid this year because it will charge more for transit, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told a television station late on Sunday.

The European Union is wary of any gas rows between the two countries similar to the one last year over prices and debts which led to a stand-off and supply cuts to European countries.

Tymoshenko met her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week in cordial talks during which the two prime ministers said gas agreements, including the transit of Russian gas to Europe, should be fulfiled.

"Taking in consideration global sentiment and the fact that Russian transit to Europe will be 60 percent more expensive, I am certain that the price of gas for Ukraine will be almost the same in 2010 as it is in 2009," she told the ICTV channel.

Under January's agreement, Ukraine pays the market price for gas minus 20 percent. The price is adjusted every quarter -- this quarter it pays about $208 per 1,000 cubic metres (tcm) compared to $360 in the first quarter.

Tymoshenko has said the average price for the full year this year should be about $228/tcm.

Russia pays $1.7 to transit 1,000 cubic metres of gas through 100 kilometres of Ukrainian pipelines. Russia sends 80 percent of its gas, or 100 billion cubic metres, via Ukrainian pipelines to meet 20 percent of European demand. A Naftogaz delegation is due in Moscow this week to discuss the volumes of gas Ukraine plans to buy next year. Putin last week said Ukraine could lower the volumes of gas that had been pencilled into the January agreement.

Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli reported over the weekend that Naftogaz would also seek a loan from Russian banks of between $500 million and $1.0 billion. Neither Naftogaz or government officials have confirmed this.

Tymoshenko had repeatedly said this year Ukraine would seek loans to pay for gas that it stored during the winter to ensure safe transit to Europe and for the modernisation of the country's creaky energy infrastructure.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development last week delayed the disbursement of a $750 million loan to Naftogaz -- credit that had been part of a EU-brokered deal to help modernise the sector.

(Editing by Keiron Henderson) ((Kiev bureau; tel: +380 44 244 9150; RM: sabina.zawadzki.reuters.com@reuters.net))