OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus considers it necessary to bring the price of natural gas closer to the Russian Federation and to enter the single gas market by 2025 within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. This was announced to journalists on Friday, Belarus Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich. “Prices should come closer in Belarus and the nearest regions of the Russian Federation. We say there should be a transition period until 2025”, the head of the Belarusian Ministry of Energy said.

Karankevich reminded that the new gas price for Belarus should be set from January 1, 2020. "Negotiations are underway, but there are no definite deadlines for the completion of negotiations", the minister said At the same time, he explained that in the course of the negotiation process we are talking about the price "not only the year 2020, but also for the future". “Before creating a common gas market, there should be a clear trajectory of price formation for this period”, said the Minister of Energy of Belarus.

Earlier, Minsk and Moscow agreed before July 1 of this year to determine the mechanism for setting the price of natural gas for Belarus from January 1, 2020. The leadership of Belarus stated that it considers fair the price of gas, which is equal to the price for business entities of the Smolensk region of the Russian Federation. The price of Russian gas for Minsk this year is $ 127 per 1,000 cubic meters. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has previously argued that the Russian side allegedly delays the negotiation process.

Earlier, the country estimated losses due to dirty oil accidents. The losses from the failure of the Mozyr Oil Refinery’s equipment’s dirty oil amount to about $ 20 million - the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus.