Russia’s Gazprom sees gas prices growing in Jul–Dec

MOSCOW, May 31 (PRIME) -- Gas giant Gazprom expects that the price of Russian gas in Europe will start growing in the third–fourth quarters, Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev told reporters Tuesday.

In the second quarter, the price will be the lowest this year, he said.

“You see that after reaching their minimum oil prices started growing and even overpassed the psychological level of U.S. $50 per barrel,” Medvedev said.

“Our gas prices have a certain lag with a period of six to nine months. And we believe that this second quarter will be the lowest this year in terms of the price level, and in the third, all the more in the fourth quarter we will see a growth trend. This refers to our portfolio formed of oil product contracts and forward contracts or with hybrid price models, where the levels of those and those prices are considered,” he said.

“We have a contract system, we do not establish prices, prices are calculated under formulas written in our contracts,” he said.

Earlier, Medvedev projected an annual average price of Russian gas in Europe at $167–171 per 1,000 cubic meters with expected supplies of 165 billion cubic meters.

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