MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Consumers in Europe and Russia's Baltic region of Kaliningrad will not be affected if Belarus starts tapping Russian gas from transit pipelines, a Gazprom spokesman said in a radio interview Friday.
An announcement by Gazprom Wednesday that the Russian energy giant was ready to cut natural gas deliveries to Belarus by 45% over its outstanding debt made Europe worry that the move could also disrupt supplies it receives via the transit country. But Russia was quick to reassure Europe that all commitments would be complied with.
"This is true. We have a clear action plan in such circumstances," Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
He said guarantees of uninterrupted supplies were based on three factors: commitments binding Belarusian pipeline operator Beltransgaz, seasonal factors, and Gazprom's action plan in the event of unsanctioned tapping.
Concerns over a possible halt in supplies to Europe, which receives 25% of all its gas from Russia, were averted Friday when Belarus paid a $190 million installment toward its $460 million gas debt following a night of intense talks between its representatives and Gazprom in Moscow. Gazprom gave Belarus another week to pay the debt in full.
But Kupriyanov warned that deliveries could still be reduced if Russia's former Soviet ally failed to meet the deadline.
"We will make a decision to cut deliveries in line with the actual payment received, namely by 30%, if no more money is paid," he said.
Belarus's gas debt is the result of a deal reached in late 2006, which forced Minsk to pay $100 per 1,000 cu m of gas, double the 2006 tariff. Under the agreement - which also stipulated that prices for Belarus would gradually rise to European levels by 2011 - Minsk was allowed to pay just 55% of the price in the first half of the year and to settle the balance by July 23.
Gazprom's threat had sparked fears that Belarus could tap gas from pipelines transiting Russian gas to Europe in a replay of a bitter price dispute with Ukraine in early 2006, which affected supplies to European consumers. The dispute fueled concerns in Europe of excessive dependence on Gazprom.
Kupriyanov said Gazprom was planning to start talks with Ukraine on the price of natural gas in 2008, which he said would depend on the price of Central Asian gas which Russia also supplies to the country.
He said tariffs and volumes of deliveries in 2008 had been agreed with other former Soviet republics, except Georgia, which the company is in talks with.
