Gazprom's headquarters are seen in Moscow. Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday announced that it will supply natural gas to Belarus at the pice of 119 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters for the first quarter of 2008. (AFP, File Photo)

    BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday announced that it will supply natural gas to Belarus at the price of 119 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters for the first quarter of 2008.

    The statement, made by the company's spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov on Echo of Moscow radio, came one day after President Vladimir Putin announced 1.5 billion dollars in loans to help the Belarus economy adjust to rising prices.

    "Despite earlier agreements on the price for Turkmenistan's natural gas at 100 dollars (per 1,000 cu. m.), it will be purchased at 130 dollars in the first half of 2008, while Russian natural gas will be supplied to Belarus at 119 dollars," Kupriyanov said.

    On Jan. 1, Russia raised the price of its gas supplies to Belarus to 100 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters from 46.7 dollars in 2006, which sparked an energy dispute between the two countries.

    On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the price of Russian natural gas for Belarus would remain unchanged in 2008.

    The Russian leader added that Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom would honor all commitments under contracts signed last year.

    "Gas prices for Belarus will certainly be raised, but within the levels fixed in last year's agreement. We will stick to previous contracts, despite the fact that Russia will buy gas at a higher price than we will sell to Belarus," said Putin.

    The current the price on the Russian natural gas for Belarus is the lowest in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), added Kupriyanov.

    (Agencies)