MINSK, 17 April (BelTA) – The price for the Russian gas for Belarus will be $129 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2018 and $127 – in 2019, Belarus' Vice Premier Vladimir Semashko said in an interview to Belarus One Channel as he commented on the results of the talks in Moscow on 13 April, BelTA has learned.
According to the vice premier, a protocol with Gazprom was signed in Moscow on the gas prices for Belarus in 2017-2019. The document also describes approaches to the future cooperation in the gas sector.
“In 2018 the gas price will be $129 per 1,000 cubic meters, regardless the oil and gas price trends. Without these talks and agreements, we would have to pay some $150. The discount is significant,” the vice premier stressed.
In 2019 Belarus will have a fixed price of $127 per 1,000 cubic meters, Vladimir Semashko said.
“The current three-year contract ends in 2017. A new contact between Belarus and Gazprom should be signed for 2018-2019 as part of the intergovernmental agreement. We have agreed that we will conclude a contract for two years. In order to know how to sign a contract for 2020-2023, we need to develop the corresponding approaches before 1 July 2019,” the vice premier said.
This means Belarus and Russia will work out a trajectory towards equal prices for gas.
The vice premier also mentioned the plans to form a common electricity market in the Eurasian Economic Union by 1 July 2019 and a common gas market – by 1 January 2025.
Vladimir Semashko noted that the gas price formula for Belarus will be pegged to the price for gas in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. “There have been two formulas before: the Yamalo-Nenets one and the one of equal rates. Today we have only one. Everything will be pegged to Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District” the vice premier explained. In his words, the gas price could have been pegged to Moscow or Smolensk. “Different options were considered during the talks. The pegging to Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District is the one to stay, and with the use of decreasing coefficients the price for gas will be going down,” he said.
