Ukraine considers pipeline consortium

The Ukrainian government said it was working on getting European leaders involved in talks to form a natural gas pipeline consortium with Russia. Kiev has pressed for a better natural gas price from Russia, saying a 2009 deal that ended a gas supply disruption was harming a Ukrainian economy bruised by recession. Russian natural gas company Gazprom had approached Ukrainian leaders about a variety of acquisitions as part of a revised deal. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Boiko said he was looking for a European role in any potential trilateral deal for the country's natural gas transit system. "Russia is showing an understanding for this and we are continuing constructive negotiations on getting European partners involved," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. The 2009 gas row between Russia and Ukraine sparked a race for natural gas pipeline alternatives for Europe. Ukraine hosts 80 percent of the Russian natural gas bound for Europe, though Gazprom had said it could increase the amount of gas it would send through a pipeline system in Belarus. Boiko said he approached European officials on the possible consortium in January. Any deal for the Ukrainian gas transit system must be trilateral, he maintained.