In a statement, Gazprom said it had sent a letter to Naftogaz -- signed by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller -- to "extend the existing contract or to conclude a new gas transit agreement through Ukraine for a period of one year."

If the key reforms move forward expeditiously, Ukraine's economic growth is projected at 3.6 percent in 2019, 3.7 percent in 2020, and 4.2 percent in 2021.

Putin said Ukraine still had work to do to align its gas regulatory landscape with that of Europe, questioning whether Kiev would be able to achieve this in time. "That is not up to us," he said. "Therefore, the risk of termination of transit exists."

For the nine months of 2019 LUKOIL Group's average hydrocarbon production excluding the West Qurna-2 project amounted to 2,337 thousand boe per day, which is 1.6% higher year-on-year.

Alexey Miller pointed out that a number of strategic issues need to be resolved prior to the signing of a new transit contract.

Ukraine's GDP growth is set to stay at 3.3 per cent in 2019 (a repeat of the 2018 result) and will accelerate slightly to 3.5 per cent in 2020.

Gazprom has offered to Naftogaz the chance to start over with a clean slate provided all legal disputes were dropped. "There are known cases in international practice when disputes between companies were settled out of court, and we are offering a zero option whereby all court proceedings would cease, all lawsuits would be withdrawn, and we would draw a line under this whole affair," Miller said last month.

The current 10-year agreement between Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrayiny expires at the end of 2019, and the EC is brokering talks aimed at putting a new contract in place to take effect from the start of 2020.

Increased electricity prices and greater use of fossil fuels have led to more deaths following the Fukushima accident in March 2011 than the subsequent evacuation from the area surrounding the nuclear power plant, a new study shows. No deaths have been recorded as a direct result of the accident itself, but the decision to suspend nuclear power generation in response to it has contributed to loss of life,

Russian crude producer Lukoil is in talks with Saudi Aramco on potential joint projects outside Russia and Saudi Arabia, including some in Africa, CEO Vagit Alekperov said Wednesday on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi.