Official says Russia not ready to reduce gas price for Belarus

SOCHI, Apr 11 (PRIME) -- Russia is not ready to reduce the price of gas supplies for Belarus, Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky told PRIME on April 9.

“No, we do not agree with it, we have a price fixed in the contract,” he said.

Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told PRIME earlier that the price of Russian gas supplies for Belarus should be reduced to U.S. $80 per 1,000 cubic meters from the current $142.

Gas giant Gazprom also believes it is not reasonable to reduce the price, as the holding makes the supplies strictly in accordance with the formula – the price of production plus costs for transportation, Deputy CEO Valery Golubev said.

Gazprom expects to keep growing its gas exports in 2016, Viktor Zubkov, chairman of the board of directors, told reporters.

In January–March, Gazprom increased gas exports to non-CIS countries 28.6% on the year to 44.406 billion cubic meters.

Yanovsky also said separately that Russia will not be negatively affected by Ukraine’s possible refusal to buy Russian oil products, as other countries supplying fuel to Ukraine mostly process Russian oil.

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