BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/12/2006

Gazprom cuts natgas deal with Belarus

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom Tuesday gave a financial concession to Belarus on gas supplies, making it easier for the ex-Soviet bloc country to buy gas in 2007.

Gazprom will value Belarus's Beltransgaz pipeline system at $5 billion rather than the $3.3 billion Gazprom has estimated the asset as being, company Chief Executive Alexei Miller said Tuesday.

This will increase Belarus's natural-gas buying power since the landlocked eastern European country plans to buy Gazprom gas by selling half its shares of the Beltransgaz system to Gazprom, the Itar-Tass news service reported.

No other former Soviet-bloc state will get such favorable gas-supply terms, Miller said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Earlier Tuesday Gazprom said it Europe would have enough gas this winter because the gas giant had stockpiled gas in Germany and Austria.

Gazprom is Russia's largest company and the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world.

Source:

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061226-091628-4092r