A new gas suppy contract was signed for five years between Belarus and Russia's natural gas monopoly signed a five-year contract for gas supplies early Monday. The contract was signed several hours before Russia had threatened to cut off supplies in a price dispute.
With this agreement, Belarus will pay $100 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2007 a reduction from the $105 that Gazprom demanded according to Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov. Belarus agreed to pay increasing prices over the subsequent four years, that's why Gazprom agreed to lower the gas prices.
The threatened Russian cutoff had raised concerns in Western Europe about a possible reduction in those countries' supplies of Russian gas, much of which reaches Europe through pipelines that cross Belarus.
A similar dispute between Russia and Ukraine in early 2006 resulted in temporary reductions of supplies to Western Europe and raised wide concern about Russia's reliability as an energy partner.
Gazprom is the largest Russian company and the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world.
Source: AP
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