All news

Russia and Belarus to decide on single oil and gas market by yearend

Belarus believes that the price for gas from 2025 should be formed in Russian rubles

ST.PETERSBURG, June 16. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus are to agree on the principles of the operation of the single oil and gas market by the end of 2017, Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov.

He stated this at a press conference following the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

"We have a preliminary agreement that by the end of 2017 the parties will agree on the principles of the functioning of the single gas market that will exist in the Eurasian Economic Union from 2025," he said.

After that, according to Kobyakov, until July 1, 2019, the parties will determine the price parameters for gas for the period from 2020 to 2025.

"We believe that this will be a trajectory of a consistent movement towards the conditions that should be in 2025. Of course, no one talks about any fixed price for gas," the Belarusian prime minister said.

At the same time, the Belarusian party believes that the price for gas from 2025 should be formed in Russian rubles.

"We are not looking for any preferences and minimum gas prices," Kobyakov said, adding that for Belarus it is fundamentally important to have a gas price comparable to the price of gas for other countries by the time the single market is created. By now gas prices for Belarus have been agreed for 2017-2019.