Launch of EEU single energy market may be postponed until 2027, says deputy minister

According to him, Russia and Kazakhstan insist that the single market should operate in parallel with bilateral gas supply agreements until the latter expire.

Vardanyan said the Russian-Armenian agreement on supply of natural gas is valid until 2043.

’We believe that parallel action is impossible, because the entire volume of supplies is regulated by a bilateral agreement, and in its current form, the agreement on the single market will not be so effective not only for us, but also for everyone,” Vardanyan said.

Another issue on which the parties did not reach an agreement is the formation of a single price for consumers. The deputy minister said that there is agreement that the price for gas should be the same for everyone at the natural gas field, after which the question arises of how the price for supplies should be formed.

“Russia and Kazakhstan insist that they have a large multi-level subsidy programs, and the price for the Russian consumers cannot be the same as, for example, for the Belarus and Armenia. Therefore, they believe that there should be a two-stage pricing system: one for the domestic market, the other is for other EEU countries,” he said.-0-