BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/12/2006

Belarus to siphon off gas, Gazprom says

RBC, 27.12.2006, Moscow 16:49:22.Gazprom views the last Belarusian announcements as a resolve to illegally tap gas intended for Europe, Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for the company, said commenting on the latest news from Belarus following a failure in Russian-Belarusian gas talks. According to him, Gazprom considers the statement by Vladimir Semashko, the First Deputy PM of Belarus, to be an intentional provocation. Kupriyanov pointed out that Gazprom would supply gas to Belarus only on the basis of a new contract.

Kupriyanov also criticized the Belarusian proposal to set the gas price at $75 per 1,000 cubic meters. He explained that in this case Gazprom would have delivered 20bn cubic meters worth a total of $1.5bn, while the company would have had to pay $2.5bn for a 25-percent stake in Beltransgaz and an additional sum for gas transit to Europe. Hence, the company not only would have received no money for the supplied gas, but also would have made a donation of more than $1bn to Belarus.

Source:

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20061227164922.shtml

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