KIEV, April 7 – Ukraine paid in full for Russian natural gas supplies in March, meeting the deadline of April 7 and averting a clash and supply disruptions, Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, reported Tuesday.

Also, Naftogaz and Gazprom, ending three-month talks, on Monday signed a technical agreement in Moscow that specifies natural gas flows and transit via Ukrainian gas pipelines to Europe this year.

The technical agreement is a follow-up to a boarder agreement signed on January 19 that had ended standoff and gas supply disruptions between Naftogaz and Gazprom earlier in January.

“The parties signed the technical agreement that accompanies implementation of contracts in 2009-2019 on gas purchasing and transit,” Naftogaz said in a statement.

Bohdan Sokolovskiy, top energy advisor to President Viktor Yushchenko, said Tuesday the technical agreement would improve cooperation between Naftogaz and Gazprom.

“This is a sort of a road map of technical cooperation,” Sokolovskiy said. “So, we received a normal way of planning gas flows, and mutual actions in general.”

According to the broad agreement signed by Naftogaz and Gazprom on January 19, the Ukrainian company must pay the Russian gas giant within a week for gas consumed the previous month. The money, about $343 million, was transferred to Gazprom before of the day on Monday.

The issue is in focus since early March when Russian Prime Minister Vlaidmir Putin has warned that Gazprom could cut gas supplies to Ukraine – and to Europe – if Ukraine fails to make a timely gas payment.

The failure to make the payment on time would allow Gazprom to demand a prepayment for future gas supplies – a condition that the cash-strapped Naftogaz would not be able to meet, analysts said.

Ukraine imported about 1 billion cubic meters of gas in March, unchanged from the previous month, and up from about 500 million cu m imported in January, according to Naftogaz.

Naftogaz is seeking to reduce amount of natural gas that it is supposed to import in 2009 by 17.5% to 33 billion cu m, down from 40 billion cu m envisaged by the contract, as demand for gas in Ukraine has been declining amid severe economic crisis. (sb/ez)