BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

31/12/2006

Gazprom hopes to sign gas supplies deal with Belarus later Sunday

MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has not yet reached an agreement on gas deliveries to Belarus in 2007 but hopes to ink the new contracts before the New Year, a spokesman for Russia's energy giant said Sunday.

"A Belarusian delegation, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko, is currently conducting negotiations with Gazprom on new gas supplies terms starting in 2007," Sergei Kupriyanov said in an interview with Russia's Vesti television.

"We have not yet reached an agreement, but Gazprom is making all possible efforts to finalize all necessary contracts in the time remaining [before the New Year's]," the Gazprom official said, adding that Belarus was offered the most favorable gas delivery terms, compared with other ex-Soviet republics.

Gazprom has proposed that Belarus pay $75 per 1,000 cubic meters in cash, plus $30 in shares of Beltransgaz, while it currently charges Armenia $110 per 1,000 cu m, Ukraine - $130 for Central Asian gas and Moldova - $160. In addition, Gazprom has recently signed contracts for the supply of 1.1 billion cu m of gas to Georgia in 2007 at $235 per 1,000 cu m.

Kupriyanov also said that an uninterrupted transit of the natural gas via Russia's Yamal-Europe pipeline was a mandatory and unquestionable condition for the successful completion of the current talks.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061231/58226976.html