UPDATE 1-Ukraine Naftogaz to buy 7-8 bcm of Russian gas in Q4

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KIEV Oct 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine will import about 7-8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas in the fourth quarter of this year, including about 1.0-1.2 bcm in October, a deputy chief executive of state energy firm Naftogaz said on Wednesday.

Such volumes are lower than the 14 bcm that some officials have said Ukraine should import to meet a total declared by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of about 30 bcm for the year. Other officials have said Ukraine's needs amount to only 5 bcm in the fourth quarter. [ID:nL7170777]

"By the end of the year, we think it (gas imports) will be somewhere between 7-8 billion cubic metres," Yaroslav Marchyuk, a deputy chief of Naftogaz, told journalists.

Disputes over gas supplies, volumes and prices between Ukraine and Russia have previously led to disruptions in the flow of gas to Europe. The EU watches the exchanges between Kiev and Moscow closely, lest another row erupts.

After a week-long standoff in January, Ukraine signed a new deal in which Kiev promised to buy 40 bcm of gas this year.

Since then Tymoshenko and most officials in Moscow have said Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM) will not impose penalties for buying less than stated.

She also suggested Ukraine would only need to buy 25-27 bcm next year, almost half the amount promised at about 52 bcm.

Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller was cited by Interfax news agency as saying the terms of the contract next year should be fulfilled. [ID:nL8241625] (Reporting by Natalya Zinets; writing by Sabina Zawadzki; editing by James Jukwey)