Ukraine's gas imports down 61.5 pct in first half of 2016

Ukraine's natural gas imports went down by 4.8 billion cubic meters, or 61.5 percent year-on-year, in the first half of 2016, local media said Monday.

In January through June this year, Ukraine imported some 3 billion cubic meters of gas, down from 7.8 billion cubic meters in the same period a year ago, according to a report released by the State Statistics Service.

In the first half of 2016, Ukraine spent 586.029 million U.S. dollars on the overseas gas purchases, the report said.

The imports came from nine European countries, with the top three exporters, namely, Germany, France and Switzerland, accounting for over half of Ukraine's overall gas purchases, it said.

Last year, Ukraine imported around 16.4 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 10.3 billion cubic meters came from Europe and 6.1 billion cubic meters were from Russia.

Gas supplies from Russia to Ukraine have been suspended since November 2015, as the two countries failed to reach an agreement on pricing. Endi