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Talks of the Belarusian delegation with Gazprom on the debt restructuring for the gas delivered in the first half of the year continue today in Minsk, the BelaPAN was reported at the Gazprom press-service.

It is to be recalled that last week the Beltransgaz delegation flew to Moscow for discussing the state of affairs with payments for gas deliveries. The debt to Gazprom totals USD 450 million though the gas price for Belarus in the first half of the year was only 55% of the price stipulated by the contract. 4 June the Gazprom transferred USD625 million for 12.5% of the Beltransgaz stock to the Belarusian party. ”The Russian party supposed Belarus to use the money for gas payments but it was still in May when the first deputy prime minister of Belarus Uladzimir Syamashka declared that the acquired sum would be allocated for implementation of the investment projects.

The deadline of the debt repayment expired 23 July. That date the minister for power engineering of Belarus Alyaksandr Azyarets arrived to Moscow for settling the problem. But his talks with the deputy chairman of the board of the Gazprom Valery Golubev had no result.

The penalty sanctions for the late payment are to be imposed no later than the second day of nonpayment. The assistant of the minister for power engineering of Belarus Andrei Zhukousky has already declared the readiness for paying the late payment interest. But it is the penalty interest amount that makes a subject for the discussion. The Belarusian party explains its request of restructuring the debt to Gazprom by the fact that the lump sum debt payment is “sufficiently sensitive”.

Yesterday night both parties agreed to continue the talks today in Minsk were the meeting of the Beltransgaz shareholders is to be held on the issue of election of the supervisory board of the Belarusian- Russian joint venture set up on 18 May. As stipulated by the Belarusian- Russian agreement one member of the supervisory board must be a representative of the Gazprom.

The Gazprom press-service reported that yesterday night the Belarusian delegation flew back to Minsk. Valery Golubev who signed the sales–and-purchase agreement of the Beltransgaz stock in Minsk is coming to the capital.

The Gazprom has not excluded ‘that the talks on the Belarusian debt for gas in Minsk may also turn to be fruitless. “The debt issue is doomed to remain unsettled until the prime ministers of both countries meet”.