MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's Gazprom said June 8 it was prepared to begin talks with Belarus over gas supply to its western neighbor Belarus in 2021 provided that Minsk fulfils the terms of the current year's agreement, said S&P Global.
Moscow and Minsk have had regular disagreements over the terms of Russian gas supply to Belarus over the past two decades, with disputes leading to interruptions to deliveries in 2004 and 2010.
Gazprom and Belarus signed an agreement on gas supply and transit for 2020 at the end of December, but only agreed on the pricing element of the contract in mid-February.
Now, Belarus has requested that discussions resume over the terms of 2020 pricing, citing disagreements over the calorific value of Russian gas.
However, Gazprom -- which claims Belarus also owes it some USD166 million in unpaid gas bills -- seems to be standing firm. "The price terms of gas supply to the end of this year were agreed on February 14, 2020," it said.
"Subject to full compliance by Belarus with the agreements reached in 2020, Gazprom confirms its readiness to start negotiations on the terms of gas supply from January 1, 2021," it said.
Belarus has denied it owes any money to Gazprom and has asked for new information regarding the cost of Russian gas.
As MRC informed earlier, in 2019, SIBUR and Gazprom Neft have consolidated 100% of the authorised capital in Poliom, a polypropylene plant in Omsk. Sibgazpolimer, a joint venture of the two companies, has signed an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in Poliom from the Titan Group.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC