To New Year with New Gas War? :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus is unlikely to agree with the gas price for 2008 without dispute , deputy CEO of the Beltrasgaz Vinery Valchuga declared to the journalists on Thursday. “We are unlikely to agree with the new gas price without dispute. We shall put forward our arguments and, hopefully, the Gazprom will take them into consideration”, he said.

V.Valchuga reminded that in the effective 4-year contract on gas deliveries to Belarus there is a formula for calculating the gas price for Belarus (67% of the average European price in 2008).Meanwhile the Beltrasgaz representative considers that “the formula is not perfect –its components are not relevant today as they depend on the oil and petrochemicals market situation”. According to him, with that in view, we shall approximately realize how to use this formula. Now we are considering the procedure of the formula application”.

For this reason “the oil gas price will be finally determined in the mid January, i.e. when all the formula components will be known to us “, V.Valchuga considers. However he confirmed that the formula for calculating the gas price for Belarus was coordinated by the parties before signing the contract. According to him, the Gazprom agreed with the formula “which apart from the other parameters takes into account the gas price in Poland as well as the price for petrochemicals”.

It is to be mentioned that the Kommersant reported today that the Gazprom starts a traditional negotiating campaign for raising the gas price for the CIS and Baltic countries since the New Year. Lithuania has been already proposed to pay 40% more. The price bargaining will start in September with Latvia and Estonia, in October –with Ukraine, in November –with Belarus. If the Gazprom succeeds in his intensions its proceeds may increase by 15-40%.But over two previous years the monopoly never succeeded in completion of those negotiations without serious collisions threatening with breaking down the gas deliveries to Europe.

Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alyaksandr Surikov in his interview to the Interfax declared recently that the gas price for Belarus next year will amount to USD 125-150 per 1 thousand cu meters of gas. Now the gas price for Belarus is USD 100 for thousand cu meters of gas.