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Winter Gas Supplies Face New ThreatIn a repeat of the gas war with Ukraine, which sent a chill through Europe last January, Gazprom said that it would halt supplies to Belarus unless a contract for 2007 was agreed by Sunday. About 20 per cent of Russian gas exports to Europe pass through Belarus. Alexei Miller, the state-owned company’s chief executive, told customers in the European Union that the “destructive position” of Belarus would lead to supply problems. “Gazprom has today sent letters to its partners in Lithuania, Poland and Germany about the gas supply situation occurring with Belarus,” Mr Miller said. “If a gas supply contract for next year is not reached, Gazprom will have no grounds for deliveries of gas to Belarus as of 10am Moscow time on January 1.” Gazprom accused Belarus of planning to steal gas meant for its EU customers after talks broke down on a new contract. Belarus threatened to halt the transit of Russian gas unless Gazprom dropped plans to more than double the existing price to $105 per 1,000 cubic metres. Eduard Tovpenets, the Deputy Energy Minister, said: “If a contract is not signed on gas supplies to Belarus, this means that there isn’t a contract for the transit of gas.” The dispute threatens a re-run of the confrontation with Ukraine, which caused gas supplies to Europe to drop by a third during one of the coldest winters on record. About 80 per cent of Russian gas exports to the EU pass through Ukraine. Mr Miller urged the Russian Government to impose a duty on gas exports to Belarus of $200 per 1,000 cubic metres to try to force a resolution of the dispute. Officials in Minsk said that Belarus would continue to pay the current price of just under $47 if no new contract were agreed. Sergei Kupriyanov, a Gazprom spokesman, said that Belarus planned to siphon off gas illegally for its own domestic use. The European Commission in Brussels said that it believed EU reserves to be sufficient to handle any shortfall. Germany expressed understanding for Moscow’s position, but Poland said that the dispute was of grave concern. “This problem poses a threat to us and this is why we have had heated debate about Polish-Russian relations and relations between Europe and Russia,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said. Gazprom said that it had made unprecedented concessions to try to strike a deal with Russia’s neighbour but would not give any further ground. The offer of $105 involved payments of $75 in cash plus $30 in shares to give Gazprom a 50 per cent stake in the Belarussian gas pipeline network. Gazprom had agreed to value the network at $5 billion, far higher than its own assessment of $3.3 billion. Mr Kupriyanov said that Belarus expected to buy gas for $75 and to receive $2.5 billion for the shares in its pipeline network. This would force Gazprom to provide the gas free plus $1 billion in cash, he said, adding: “Gazprom is not Santa Claus to make such generous gifts to the Belarussian authorities.” Pay the piper Gazprom emerged from the privatisation of state assets after the break-up of the Soviet Union It now has a stock market valuation of $269 billion (£140 million), more than half of which is owned by the Russian State In 1998, Boris Yeltsin’s Government began to demand billions of dollars in back taxes from Gazprom. The company paid only when Russian authorities started seizing assets Gazprom employs almost 300,000 people and produces 85 per cent of Russian gas. It produces about a fifth of the world’s natural gas output, as well as 8 per cent of Russian GDP In the past 20 years natural gas consumption in the European Union has doubledTag CloudExternal InformationAdditional InformationStores Hint at Change Under New Castro...Japan Ends Afghan Naval Mission... U.S. Airstrike Aims at Qaeda Cell in Somalia... English lessons scrapped as Moscow strangles British links in red tape... Where Am I?News Main Page - Business - Winter Gas Supplies Face New Threat |
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