SAINT PETERSBURG, 16 June (BelTA) – Prices for Russian gas for Belarus should be set in Russian rubles as from 2020. Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov put forward the proposal after the session of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Belarus and Russia in Saint Petersburg on 16 June, BelTA has learned.
According to the prime minister, Belarus has already forwarded its proposals on forming a common natural gas market to the Russian side. Russian partners are now perusing them. “We believe that the natural gas price should be set in Russian rubles starting 2020. It is our proposal. We expect the partners to accept it. Then we will come to terms,” said Andrei Kobyakov.
Andrei Kobyakov reminded that during the meeting of the Belarusian and Russian heads of state in Saint Petersburg on 3 April the sides managed to address all the key matters concerning bilateral cooperation in oil and gas industry. The sides okayed prices for natural gas for three years — 2017, 2018, and 2019. There is an agreement in principle that by the end of 2017 the sides will come to terms on general principles of operation of the common natural gas market, which will start working within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union as from 2025.
Principles of operation of a common natural gas market are being worked out within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. Similar principles are supposed to be worked out and enforced in Belarus-Russia relations by 1 July 2019. Determining the natural gas prices Belarus will pay in 2020-2025 is the idea. “Naturally, nobody talks about fixed prices but pricing principles,” noted Andrei Kobyakov.
As far as oil deliveries to Belarus are concerned, the prime minister reminded that everything is now settled till 2025. An agreement has been reached that Belarus will no longer be forced to sell oil products to Russia, including gasoline made by Belarusian oil refineries out of Russian oil. The final arrangements were set by the large package of bilateral agreements that was signed in Moscow on 13 April.
