Supply threat thwarted as Belarus pays off Gazprom

03 August 2007 11:35  [Source: ICIS news]

MOSCOW (ICIS news)--Gazprom reached an agreement on continued gas exports to Belarus, a spokesman for the gas giant said on Friday.

Russian gas supplies to Belarus would remain uninterrupted because state gas company Beltransgas has agreed to pay its debts to Gazprom within a week, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on Russian television.

Belarus state representatives said they have confirmed that a payment of $190m has been made to Russia, with the rest of the $456m debt to be paid within a week.

Earlier this week, Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Belarus by 45% from 3 August over unpaid gas bills. Russia supplies about one-quarter of Europe's gas to some 20 countries, and Gazprom pipes gas to Poland, Germany and Lithuania through Belarus.

Germany, Italy and Poland faced faced limited gas supply volumes in January 2006 after Gazprom briefly cut off natural-gas deliveries to Ukraine in a similar price dispute.

By: Sergei Blagov
+44 20 8652 3214

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