Belarus Clears Gas Debt to Russia's Gazprom

Belarus paid OAO Gazprom in full for gas deliveries in May as the Russian export monopoly deepened a cut in supplies to the neighboring country today, while demanding payments for past deliveries.

Photo: Belarus Clears Gas Debt to Russia's Gazprom

OAO Beltransgaz, the Belarusian gas transportation company half-owned by Gazprom, paid $260.1 million for the May deliveries at contract prices, the Moscow-based company said in an e-mailed statement today, BusinessWeek reports.

The transit of Russian gas across Belarus is carried out in full, and consumers of in Europe are not experiencing any problems with its supplies, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.

On June 21st, the Russian energy giant started cutting supplies of “the blue fuel” to Belarus, in a bid to press the republic to pay off the debt for Russian gas it accumulated since the beginning of this year, The Voice of Russia informs.