Government getting ready for the worst: gas to cost USD 200
- 27.07.2008, 15:58
Gazprom has broken Belarusian negotiators. The responsible bodies have been instructed to prepare the so called pessimistic forecast for 2009.
According to «Zavtra Tvoey Strany», these instructions were given last week, after Beltransgaz General Director Uladzimir Mayorau had returned from negotiations with managing board of the Russian monopoly in Moscow.
This variant of the forecast is planned to be considered at the expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers with participation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the first half of August. Al calculations in this forecast are made on the base of gas price of USD 200 per 1,000 cubic meters.
This cost is 60 dollars (or a third part of the current price) too much that it was supposed in an “optimistic” draft budget.
It should be reminded that the Belarusian government has already prepared draft budget for the next year, based on gas price of USD 140 per 1,000 cubic meters, and have been trying to force this sum through Gazprom for some months.
– Initially, this price agrees upon the contract of 2006. We are negotiating with Russia on gas prices for 2009 on the basis of these agreements. We have taken this figure, USD 140, into account, – vice premier Andrei Kabyakou explained a position of Belarus this April.
However, the negotiations weren’t successful. Gazprom thought 140 dollars was too good for Belarus, a discount for which shouldn’t exceed 20 per cent of the European price, according to the agreements. As gas price got over USD 310-320 per 1,000 cubic meters for European customers, gas price for Belarus must be more than USD 200 in any case, even if a discount is taken into consideration.
The information about possible increase in gas price to USD 200 and higher appeared in May current year for the first time. It was first announced by Vasil Khrol, deputy state secretary of Russian-Belarusian Union, at Moscow-Minsk video-conference, who said: “next gas price will be higher than USD 200 according to the price formula.”
Russia’s ambassador to Belarus Aleksandr Surikov was more peremptory at a press conference in June. He said Belarus would pay USD 200 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2009.