Belarus agrees to double gas price

Gazprom, the Russian gas company, struck a five-year deal to supply gas to Belarus just minutes before a New Year deadline, narrowly avoiding a gas price war that threatened to disrupt supplies to Europe.

The agreement, signed at two minutes to midnight on New Year's eve, just as Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, made his New Year address, averted a shut-down of gas supplies to Belarus scheduled for 10am on January 1. The new contract doubles the price of gas for Belarus this year and gives Gazprom a 50 per cent stake in its pipeline network. Under the terms of the deal, gas prices will rise steadily over the next five years bringing them in line with European countries by 2011.

(2007-01-02)

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