BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/11/2006

Gazprom to discuss 2007 tariffs with Belarus UPDATE

MOSCOW (AFX) - A senior executive of Gazprom is due to meet Belarusian officials in Minsk today to discuss gas deliveries to the country in 2007, amid comments from Belarus that it wants to join forces with Ukraine to put pressure on Gazprom, which relies on the two countries to transport its gas to Western Europe.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko yesterday rejected Gazprom\'s demand for a significant rise in tariffs for Russian gas.

He told Ukrainian journalists that because Belarus and Ukraine provided the link between Russia and Western Europe, the smaller countries effectively wielded the same level of power as Russia.

\"We are all on the same level now,\" he said.

About 80 pct of Russian gas bound for Western Europe travels through Ukraine and 20 pct through Belarus.

Gazprom\'s newly appointed director-general, Valeri Golubev, is due in Minsk today to evaluate the Belarusian state-owned Beltransgaz gas pipes, which the Russian group is looking to buy, Gazprom said in a statement.

Lukashenko, who up until now has refused to compromise on the trade of pipes for cheaper gas, may agree to give Gazprom 50 pct of Beltransgaz in exchange for access to Russian gas, according to the Russian paper Kommersant.

At the beginning of November Alexandre Surikov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus, warned that the country might have to pay 140 usd per 1,000 cubic metres for Russian gas in 2007, or three times the current price of 47 usd.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov is also expected in Minsk today to meet the CIS heads of government ahead of a summit between the former USSR nations starting there on Tuesday.

Source:

http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=259965