“Poland has confirmed its desire to buy an additional 15bn cubic metres of gas annually long-term. All these issues will be resolved, as I understand, in November,” the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus, H. E. Mr. Alexander Surikov, told reporters at a recent Minsk press conference. He also explained that a business plan and a feasibility study for the project will be ready by November. Substantive consultations with Belarus will then begin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Gazprom to revive the Yamal-Europe-2 gas pipeline project via Belarus, to ensure supply to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary and enhance the reliability of gas supply to Europe. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller notes that a new gas pipeline through Belarus to Europe is being considered, with preliminary talks indicating that such a line could be operational by 2018-2019.
According to Mr. Surikov, co-operation between Belarus and Russia continues to grow — as statistics confirm. Since the early 1990s, our turnover has risen dozens of times. “No such progress is seen with any other state but Belarus,” the Ambassador stressed.
