Belarus considering electric power import from Central Asia

"We are considering supplies of electric energy from Central Asia," he said. Vladimir Semashko reminded that in 2010 an agreement was signed setting forth legal, procedural, technical and economic terms of electric energy supplies from Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries to Belarus. This will give Belarus and opportunity to diversify electric energy imports and possibly cut down on costs. This will be done using the so-called swap-scheme when Kazakhstan sells electric energy on the Kazakhstan-Russia border and Belarus buys the same amount of electricity on the Belarus-Russia border, Vladimir Semashko explained. 

In his words, Belarus is interested in purchasing gas from suppliers other than Gazprom. "Today we buy all the gas from Gazprom. The price is very good - $165 per 1,000 cubic meters; next year we will have the same price, maybe even lower. But still we purchase this gas from Gazprom. However, Russia has independent private corporations, like NOVATEK, Itera and others. I hope that when the relevant agreements are enacted, we will be able to buy gas from these Russian independent producers," Vladimir Semashko said. 

Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed on equally profitable market prices for gas in the SES after the completion of preparation procedures in 2015. After that, provided there are available capacities, the countries will give economic operators an access to the gas transportation system located on the territory of the SES, Vladimir Semashko reminded.