Gazprom CEO says no new gas price agreed with Belarus yet

. MOSCOW, July 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on Thursday
denied reports that a new gas price had been agreed with Belarus and said
talks will begin in the second half of the year.
He also denied claims Russia may agree to a lower the price in case
Belarus sells the remaining 50 percent of stock in its national
Beltransgaz operator to Gazprom.
"These are different things. If the Belarussian side accepts the offer
without any additional conditions and decides to sell 50 percent in
Beltransgaz the contract may be signed already tomorrow," he told a press
conference.
Talks on the pricing formula "will be held during preparations of a
new contract for supplies beginning from January 1, 2012," he said adding
they will begin in the third-fourth quarter of the year.
Crisis-hit Belarus wants to buy gas at domestic Russian prices,
Belarussian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said on Thursday.
He recalled that Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan agreed to create a
common economic space in which all parties should enjoy equal terms. A new
contract with Gazprom shall envisage "a radical price decrease" and
Belarus, as well as Kazakhstan should buy Russian gas at domestic prices
from 2015, according to Semashko.
In the second quarter of 2011 Belarus paid 244.7 dollars per thousand
cubic meters of Russian gas. The price will rise to 286 dollars in the
third quarter and to 300-305 dollars in the fourth. Semashko said the
price is considerably higher than within the Russian Federation.