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Gazprom, Belarus extended their gas contracts for a year, set gas price for two months

Also, addenda to gas transit and gas supply contracts were signed with Gazprom Transgaz Belarus, extending them until 2021

© EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus signed a protocol on gas prices for January-February 2020 and addenda to the contracts for transit and supply of Russian gas to Belarus, extending them until 2021, Gazprom said in a statement.

"[Gazprom CEO] Alexei Miller and [ambassador of Belarus to Russia] Vladimir Semashko signed a protocol on gas prices for the Republic of Belarus for January and February 2020," according to the statement.

Also, addenda to gas transit and gas supply contracts were signed with Gazprom Transgaz Belarus, extending them until 2021.

"According to the signed documents, the contracted volumes of deliveries and transit in 2020 were kept at the level of 2019," the statement says.

On Monday, December 30, the Russian and Belarussian leaders had a detailed telephone conversation on oil and gas supplies to Belarus. Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko agreed that the governments of the two countries would draft interim conditions of oil and gas supplies, if economic entities fail to come to terms by January 1. Then a final decision may be made, which the presidents may approve after the Christmas holidays in the middle of January.

Moscow and Minsk are in the process of coordinating 31 integration road maps. At the moment the road maps for oil, gas and taxes are still to be agreed on. On December 20 it was announced that Russia and Belarus had agreed on oil and gas supplies in principle. Lukashenko said that his country in 2020 would purchase about 20 billion cubic meters of gas and 24-25 million tonnes of oil. The concrete price of gas will be set in the near future. Lukashenko says it will remain at last year’s level by and large ($127 per 1,000 cubic meters).

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