Ukraine wants to purchase three million cubic meters of gas from RWE per day, Ukraine's Zerkalo Nedeli weekly reported.
"NaftogazUkraine plans to sign a short-term contract with Germany's RWE to deliver spot gas, bought in Europe, through Slovak pipelines to Ukraine. The signing is likely to happen in the nearest future," says the report on the newspaper's website.
According to the draft contract seen by Zerkalo Nedeli and to comments by specialists, the agreement is seen as "balanced" and unlike similar deals with Russia, it does not contain "excessive" conditions.
The newspaper also reported that Ukraine held talks with Turkey and Bulgaria to deliver liquefied natural gas from Turkish storage facilities through the Bulgarian gas transportation system.
Turkey and Bulgaria see no objection to the scheme, the report says. Bulgaria has reportedly laid down a parallel gas pipeline to the one used to bring Russian gas, which could allow reverse flows to Romania. Ukraine and Romania would have to agree on pipeline route to serve the Ukrainian market.
Gas price talks between Ukraine and Russia have dragged on for more than a year without tangible results.
Previous disputes between Russia in Ukraine have briefly disrupted gas supplies to Europe, prompting both Gazprom and the European Union to look for alternative transit routes such as the Nord Stream pipeline launched last year and the planned South Stream pipeline project. [more]
