KIEV, Jan. 24 – Ukraine’s government agencies on Friday appeared to be split over the ownership of $2.3 billion worth of natural gas in the country’s underground gas tanks, jeopardizing the recent Russian-Ukrainian gas deal.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, following the deal in Moscow a week ago, said that the more than 10 billion cubic meters of gas, once owned by RosUkrEnergo, is now the property of Naftogaz Ukrayiny.

But RosUkrEnergo insisted that it had still owned the gas, warning that any attempts to claim the gas by Naftogaz Ukrayiny would be challenged in an international court.

The government’s unity was shattered on Friday when Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, the head of the State Customs Committee, said the gas was the property of RosUkrEnergo as no paper had so far been submitted proving otherwise.

“Until I have certain reasons, such as the contracts, this gas will remain to be owned by RosUkrEnergo,” Khoroshkovskiy said in comments televised by Inter television late Friday.

Transferring this gas to the ownership of Naftogaz was the key part of the deal between Gazprom of Russia and Naftogaz Ukrayiny that had unlocked Russia gas supplies to the European Union last week.

Gazprom, which owns 50% of RosUkrEnergo, apparently promised to sell more than 10 billion cubic meters of RosUkrEnergo’s gas to Naftogaz at $160 per 1,000 cubic meters, less than a half of its market value.

On the other hand, Gazprom promised to sell to Naftogaz directly 40 billion cubic meters of gas in 2009 at an average price of about $230 per 1,000 cu m, according Naftogaz officials.

Khoroshkovskiy’s comments show that the gas in question was still de-facto owned by RosUkrEnergo as of January 23.

Should RosUkrEnergo succeed in proving that it is the real owner of the gas, this may question the entire Russian-Ukrainian gas deal as in this case Ukraine would not have enough gas to meet domestic demand.

Tymoshenko, who brokered the deal with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, indicated on Saturday that she will continue to press to transfer RosUkrEnergo’s gas to Naftogaz.

“It appears that Khoroshkovskiy and [Dmytro] Firtash [the largest individual shareholder in RosUkrEnergo] are in the same team,’ Tymoshenko said at a press conference. “Everything will be done as it should. Nobody will take the gas that is owned by the people of Ukraine. Nobody!”

“I don’t know any customs officer, even is this is the leader, who would fail to do this for Ukraine, for the people of Ukraine,” Tymoshenko said. (tl/ez)