The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a meeting among Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee; Sergey Rumas, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus and Alexander Ozerets, Energy Minister of the Republic of Belarus.

The discussion centered on the details of the new contract for gas supply and transit with a link to the terms and conditions of the purchase and sale agreement for a 50 per cent stake in Beltransgaz.

The parties demonstrated a high degree of mutual understanding during the negotiations, that was helpful for the documents to be agreed on within the prescribed timeframes.

Alexey Miller noted, “Negotiations with our Belarusian friends are very progressive and we are on the right track. There are very few insignificant issues to be settled. It is absolutely clear now that the final agreements will be reached in the nearest future. I am sure we will be ready to sign all the necessary documents as early as in November.”

Background

On December 31, 2006 Gazprom and Beltransgaz signed the gas supply and transit contract for 2007–2011. In particular, starting from January 1, 2008 the contract set forth the price formula (corresponding to the price formula for Russian gas supplies to Europe) and the discount rates for the price between 2008 and 2010 (0.67, 0.8 and 0.9 respectively).

In August 2011 Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation tasked the Russian Energy Ministry and Gazprom to determine the discount rate for the price of gas to be supplied to Belarus starting from 2012.

Gazprom holds a 50 per cent stake in Beltransgaz.