Ukraine seeks to resume gas, oil imports from Kazakhstan

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said here Tuesday that his country wants to restart direct natural gas and oil deliveries from Kazakhstan."Resumption of direct hydrocarbon supplies from Kazakhstan to Ukraine is in the interest of both nations," Azarov said at his meeting with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev.Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, who also attended the talks, said Ukraine is also interested in developing oil fields in Kazakhstan and conducting joint geological studies.Kazakhstan, with projected natural gas reserves of 6 trillion to 8 trillion cubic meters, supplied Ukraine with 5 billion cubic meters of gas annually until 2005, when Ukraine switched over to Russian gas imports.Currently, Kiev is seeking to diversify its gas supply sources away from Russia, considering European Union countries and Turkmenistan as potential partners.