No immediate Ukraine gas row rating impact: Fitch

By Peter Apps

LONDON (Reuters) - The Russia-Ukraine gas row is not an immediate threat to the credit ratings of either country or of downstream European gas consumers, ratings agency Fitch said on Tuesday, although it is watching the spat as part of Ukraine's wider economic crisis.

Fitch director of sovereigns group Andrew Colquhoun said any increase in the price paid by Ukraine for Russian gas would worsen Ukraine's creditworthiness, but it would take a sharp move to hit the country's current "B+" rating

"It's definitely a second order consideration for the Ukraine rating," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"I'd be paying much more attention to the banking crisis there as well as what is going on in the global economy. But obviously the higher the gas price they are paying, the worse for the credit picture."

Fitch has Ukraine on a negative outlook.

Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom halted supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day in a dispute over gas bills and pricing for 2009, disrupting supplies to other European consumers.

"In terms of downstream user countries, we wouldn't see any immediate ratings impact," Colquhoun said.

"Many of them have got used to this annual gas dispute and built up reserves accordingly."