BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/12/2006

No panic in EU over lack of progress in Belarus-Gazprom talks

LONDON, December 28 (Itar-Tass) - There is no panic in the European Union's governing bodies over the possible tapping by Belarus of the Russian gas intended for EU consumers, a representative of the European Commission told Itar-Tass on conditions of anonymity.

The EU is closely watching the situation developing at the negotiations between Gazprom and the Belarus government, the EU official said.

According to European specialists, due to unusually warm weather, considerable volumes of natural gas have been amassed at strategic storages of Gazprom and other companies in Germany and Austria.

They exceed by a large margin the reserves as of January 1, 2006, the experts underlined.

Even if Gazprom and the Belarus government fail to agree on the price by January 1, 2007, the situation does not pose much threat to the European Union. Belarus only accounts for 20 percent of exported Russian gas, and it can be compensated by boosting supplies via Ukraine. However, Poland will suffer most if Belarus taps the transit gas.

Meanwhile, Gazprom warned it may stop supplies to Belarus from January 1, if a gas contract is not signed.

"If Gazprom does not sign a contract with Minsk, we will have no grounds for supplying gas to Belarus from 10:00 Moscow time on January 1," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told the Vesti TV Channel on Wednesday.

Gazprom has already sent its partners in Lithuania, Poland and Germany notifications on possible troubles in gas transit via Belarus starting from January 1, 2007, he said.

"But Gazprom will supply gas to its European consumers to the border with Belarus in full volume and in compliance with the effective contracts," he said.

Miller pointed out that the Wednesday negotiations on gas export with Belarus yielded no results.

President of the Russian Union of Oil and Gas Producers Gennady Shmal, in comments on the situation, said "Russia and Belarus have a transit contract that will expire only in 2010. European gas consumers would not suffer, if Gazprom cuts gas export to Belarus. Belarus should comply with the transit contract, otherwise this will worsen Belarus' already tainted image."

Source:

http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11122949&PageNum=0