Belarus secures low-cost Russian gas for 2022
Belarus will pay only $128.52/'000 m3 for Russian gas in 2022, the Belarusian energy ministry reported on December 1, under a protocol it signed with Russia's Gazprom.
For comparison, Gazprom sold its gas in Europe and other countries outside the former Soviet Union for 17,839 rubles ($238)/'000 m3 in January through September. Its price in the third quarter was $313.
Russia is Belarus' only gas supplier and typically supplies 20bn m3/year to its eastern neighbour. Moscow has traditionally provided Belarus with cheap oil and gas as a de-facto subsidy for its economy, in return for Minsk's political loyalty.
The dynamic between the two countries has shifted since Belarus' relations with the West collapsed last year after president Alexander Lukashenko declared victory in elections that were widely condemned as neither free nor fair. The EU has since imposed several rounds of sanctions against Belarus.
This has left Belarus more reliant on Russia both politically and economically.