BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/12/2006

Gazprom hopes for timely natural gas deal with Belarus

MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] is continuing talks with Belarus on Russian natural gas deliveries and hopes an agreement can be reached by a January 1, 2007 deadline, an official spokesman for the company said Friday.

Russia and Belarus are currently involved in complex negotiations over the 2007 gas price for Minsk, which has been paying a discounted rate until now. The dispute is reminiscent of a gas spat with Ukraine early this year, when Russia briefly suspended gas supplies, affecting consumers in Europe.

"The talks are continuing in a tense atmosphere, but there is still a chance to reach a timely agreement," Sergei Kupriyanov said, adding that Russia and Belarus have stayed in permanent contact on the issue.

In the ongoing dispute between the ex-Soviet neighbors, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Wednesday the state-controlled Russian natural gas monopoly will cutoff supplies to Belarus January 1, 2007 if no new agreement is signed by that time.

A Russian government source said following Thursday's talks that Moscow does not intend to change the Gazprom-proposed contract terms on gas supplies to Belarus.

Gazprom has proposed that Belarus pay $75 per 1,000 cubic meters in cash, plus $30 in shares of the Belarusian government-owned pipeline company Beltransgaz.

Belarus said it was only ready to pay $75 in cash and, being a transit country, would not suffer gas shortages while abiding by the 2006 price of $46.68 per 1,000 cubic meters until the new contract was signed.

Belarus, which is building a Union State with Russia, currently pays a discounted rate of $46.68 per 1,000 cubic meters and charges Russia a transit rate of $0.75 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20061229/58086154.html

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