30 August 2007
Beltranshaz deputy head notes "defects" in gas price rules
Beltranshaz deputy head Vinery Valchuha noted "defects" in rules for a price of natural gas supplied by Gazprom, which the national gas pipeline operator and the Russian monopoly had agreed upon on December 31, 2006.
He told reporters in Minsk on Thursday that the defects "cannot be felt now" and that they depended on energy prices.
He acknowledged that the sides were at odds over the rules.
"Work has begun and I think that we will complete it by October 1. We already approximately know how the formula outlined in the contract should be used," he said.
The rules are outlined in a deal that Beltranshaz reached with Gazprom two minutes before the midnight on December 31, averting a threatened cutoff of gas supplies.
Under the contract, Belarus pledged to pay gradually increasing prices that will match global market prices of over $200 by 2011. In 2008, it is obliged to pay 67 percent of the price of gas supplied to the European Union.
Mr. Valchuha said that a 2008 price would be set at the end of this year or even in January. He said that Gazprom should cite good grounds for its price.
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