Gazprom is to adopt a market-oriented approach to business with
Belarus from 2007, Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian gas giant said
in an interview with Russia's Channel One television on Sunday.
"A price-setting mechanism for Russian gas sold on the
Belarussian market will be guided by market principles and the
experience of the world's gas business," Miller said, "we started
negotiations in due time to avoid any unpleasant New Year
surprises. Our talks will continue at the end of April."
"Today Gazprom is switching to understandable and transparent
market principles in its dealings with all former Soviet republics.
They are governed by trends in world prices for hydrocarbons."
Miller added.
Gazprom announced on April 4 that the market price of Russian
gas for Belarus should be raised by at least three times from the
current US$46 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Asked whether the gas deal with Ukraine could be reviewed, a
possibility voiced by a number of Ukrainian politicians, Miller
said, "I am sure that nobody in Ukraine wants to repeat the
situation, when gas deliveries to Ukrainian consumers were halted
due to the absence of contracts and agreements."
According to Miller, the rise in the price Ukraine has to pay
for Russian gas at Europe's level of US$230 per 1,000 cubic meters
has already taken place.
Earlier this year, after a bitter, months-long dispute over gas
prices, Gazprom and Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz
Ukrainy clinched a deal on Jan. 4, under which Gazprom would raise
gas price to US$230 per 1,000 cubic meters to Ros UkrEnergo, a
newly-set Russian-Ukrainian joint venture, which could mix the
Russian gas with cheaper gas from Central Asia and sell the blend
to Ukraine for US$95 per 1,000 cubic meters.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2006)
