SOCHI (Sputnik) — Russia's energy giant Gazprom considers it inexpedient to cut its gas prices for Belarus, as the price formula in the company's contracts is gas production price plus the transportation cost, the deputy chairman of Gazprom's management committee said Saturday. In this case, Russia is not ready to reduce the gas price for Belarus.
"We have a very simple formula with Belarus. We take the production price in the northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area and add the transportation price, nothing more, and this formula has been agreed on. Why should we now sell gas to Belarus at lower prices than in Russia?" Valery Golubev told RIA Novosti.
He underlined that there are different pricing formula for gas, for example, the one based on oil ratios but it was Belarus who insisted on the formula currently used to determine the price for Russian gas.