Minsk, Moscow may ink protocol on oil & gas
By Kamila Aliyeva
Belarus hopes to sign oil and gas contracts with Russia next week.
“We hope that we will sign the oil and gas contracts with Russia next week,” Belta reported citing Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko as saying on February 16.
“On Friday and Saturday we held talks and compiled a draft agreement with my counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich. The protocol has been submitted to the Russian leadership. I hope it will be approved next week,” said the Vice Premier.
The document is expected to help Belarus and Russia settle all the disputable issues with oil supplies and gas prices. The two are also working on mutually acceptable terms of oil supplies.
Belarus insists on the lower prices for Russian gas. After energy prices dropped globally, Minsk said that a gas price set by Gazprom of $132 per 1,000 cubic meters is too high. Belarus, a major transit route for Russian gas to Europe, has previously said a price of $73 would be reasonable.
Russia announced that any discount on gas for Belarus is “out of question”. In response to underpayment of around $300 million for Russian gas supplies Moscow cut its tax-free oil supplies to Belarus by more than a third.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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