MOSCOW, Nov. 27 – Russian gas giant Gazprom on Tuesday accepted a 30% hike in the price it will pay Turkmenistan for natural gas next year, a move that will probably trigger a major gas price increase for Ukraine.

Gazprom buys gas from Turkmenistan and immediately resells it to RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based gas trader controlled by the Russian company, which later delivers and sells it to Ukraine.

Gazprom now pays $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, but it has accepted the price of $130/1,000 cu m to be charged in first half of 2008 and $150/1,000 cu m in the second half of the year.

After adding transportation costs the price hike will probably boost prices that Ukraine will have to pay to at least $160/1,000 cu m in the first six months and to at least $180/1,000 cu m in the second half. The prices will be higher if gas transportation costs also accelerate.

The quoted prices are more than Ukraine has been prepared to pay for gas next year. At recent talks with Gazprom, Ukraine defended a price between $150 and $160 per 1,000 cu m for the entire year of 2008.

“We really hope that Gazprom and Turkmenistan would stand by their agreement keeping the price at $100/1,000 cu m,” Anatoliy Kinakh, the Ukrainian economy minister, said before the Gazprom-Turkmenistan talks in Ashgabat had ended. “If not, problems will, of course, emerge for Ukraine in terms of price.”

Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, said that starting from 2009 the Russian company will be buying gas form Turkmenistan at market LEVEL price that will be defined by a special formula.

“The price formula will start in 2009 and will be in effect through 2028,” Miller said in a statement released by Gazprom.

The deal between Gazprom and Turkmenistan throws a monkey wrench into the 2-month long talks that Ukraine had been holding with Gazprom over gas prices to be charged next year.

Senior Ukrainian officials have suggested last week the parties have almost reached an agreement for gas supplies and prices, and had expected to sign contract this week. The Turkmen-Gazprom deal will probably delay the talks.

The development puts extra pressure on the Ukrainian government, which needs to know the price in order to incorporate state subsidies that will be required in the draft 2008 budget.

The government originally forecast the gas price will increase to $145/1,000 cu m in 2008 from $130/1,000 cu m in 2007, but last week it had been forced to revise the forecast to $160/1,000 cu m. Now, the government will again have to change the draft, a month before the fiscal year actually begins.

The gas price hike by Turkmenistan may prompt other Central Asian gas producers, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, to also increase their prices.

Miller, who spent the past several days in Ashgabat, said Turkmenistan had first indicated on Nov. 23 that it wanted to hike its gas price in 2008. (sb/ez)