The European one natural gas is moving higher today as the Russian president Vladimir Putin again questioned the possibility of a deal to maintain flows to Europe through Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

In particular, the price of European natural gas rose up to 5% on Friday. It is recalled that Putin said on Thursday that it was impossible to settle a new transit contract before the end of the year, when the current agreement expires. The price later fell and now natural gas for January delivery is up 3.8% to 47.50 euros per megawatt hour.

Central European countries that still buy Russian gas have proposed alternatives to keep the fuel flowing through Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected any deal that would send money into Russian coffers while the war continues.

Unless the situation changes, there will be no Russian gas transit from January 1, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said on Friday.

Still, talks continue until the end of the year and a last-minute deal cannot be completely ruled out, especially given the history of such deals being reached at the last minute during previous gas disputes between the two countries.

If Ukraine receives proposals from the Commission on continued transit, it is ready to consider them and guarantee “energy security for the region,” Tykhyi said. Some consultations are taking place in “different forms,” ​​but “not with Russia, of course,” he added.

Meanwhile, Friday’s orders did not book any capacity at the Slovakia-Austria border point for January.

Putin acknowledged Thursday that the various proposals on the table — allowing Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey or Azerbaijan to take control of gas transited through Ukraine — are difficult to implement because Russian energy giant Gazprom has long-term contracts that are difficult to change.

Streams at risk represent around 5% of European demand. Although this is a small share of the market, the loss of these volumes would force countries to rely more on natural gas pipelines from Norway or liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the US.

Traders in Europe are keeping a close eye on the region’s natural gas stocks, with storage levels now below 75%.

Putin also said a lawsuit by Ukraine’s Naftogaz alleging that Gazprom has not fully paid for transit services is another obstacle to a deal. That lawsuit must be dropped for any transit agreement to be reached, he noted.