Gazprom and Naftogaz entered into an agreement to arrange for the transmission of gas across Ukrainian territory. Naftogaz is thus acting as the transit organizer and assuming the associated risks.

Last week, Russia and Ukraine announced the terms of a new gas transit deal under which Moscow will supply Europe for at least five years via its former Soviet neighbor and pay a $2.9 billion settlement to Kiev to end a legal dispute.

“Of course we will finish building (the pipeline)... Gazprom has alternative options for how to lay it. It will take a little more time, but that’s no big deal,” Medvedev told journalists, adding that it could take a couple more months.

Gazprom is showing that the strategy chosen for 2020 -- and potentially over the longer term -- is to defend its market share in Europe by flooding the Continent with cheap gas, send alternative sources of supply, in particular LNG, out of the money, traders told

Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Tuesday it has raised 9 billion euros ($10 billion) and 171 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) from a pool of international and Russian banks to finance its Amur gas processing plant.

Spending an estimated Eur66 billion on the three projects, Gazprom clearly saw money as being no object to achieving its goals -- be they economic, geopolitical or both.

It was highlighted that the ongoing global growth in natural gas consumption is one of the chief trends of 2019.

Ukraine is a key transit route for Russian piped gas exports to Europe and the existing deal between the two post-Soviet countries expires at the end of 2019.

Gazprom, which has already invested in several oil and gas projects in Vietnam, last year signed a new agreement on the development of the Bao Vang gas field and a power station in the central part of country.

Gazprom's overall amount of investments for 2020: RUB 1,104.7 billion. Gazprom's borrowings for 2020: RUB 557.8 billion. Final investment program and budget to be approved by Gazprom Board of Directors.