Business

Gas here, gas there...
by Barbora Misakova

Gas troubles are back! For those of you who has vivid memories of the last gas cut off in their mind: don’t worry, you will not freeze to death! Analysts say the impact of these disruptions would not be as serious this time because of lower gas demand in the summer. As if the gas was used only for heating! This time Russia and Belarus cannot come to agreement about payments. While Russia’s Gazprom asks from Belarus paying its debt back, Belarus argues they already did it. What is more, Belarus threatens to halt transit of Russian gas to Europe if the energy giant did not pay $260 million in transit fees. Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said Mi! nsk had transferred 187 million dollars “to settle our debt to Gazprom”, but now Gazprom has to pay a debt to Belarusian firm Beltransgaz for transit fees. “I demand that Gazprom pay Beltransgaz 260 million dollars by 10:00 am (0700 GMT) tomorrow. If this is not done, we will be forced to shut down hydrocarbon transit through Belarusian territory.” The problem is much worse when we consider there are more countries which will suffer by gas reduction. “This is not only a problem for this one member state, it is a problem, it is an attack on the whole European Union.” said Oettinger. Mutual Russian-Belarusian problems “should not be our problems” said the EU commissioner. The chief executive of Gazprom said European customers should not worry. But I bet Lithuania, Germany and Poland which depend on Russian gas piped through Belarus have different opinion.

related story (sgx17675): http://www.france24.com/en/20100623-belarus-russia-gazprom-b...

by Barbora Misakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 2:07 PM