Deal for years

Gazprom began buying Beltransgaz in parts

The promised, as they say, waits for three years. In the case of Beltransgaz, Gazprom waited five years for mercy from Alexander Lukashenko. And if we take the first intergovernmental agreement on this topic as a starting point, then its history goes back a good fifteen years. As a result, Gazprom agreed to value Beltransgaz at $5 billion—that’s exactly what Mr. Lukashenko wanted to get five years ago, when the deal was successfully scrapped. As an indispensable condition, the Belarusian authorities pledged not to introduce a “golden share” at the enterprise, the presence of which would make Gazprom as a shareholder completely powerless and not involved in the management of the company.

In May 2007, Minsk signed a purchase and sale agreement with the Russian concern for a 50% stake in the Belarusian gas transportation enterprise for $2.5 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Gazprom will buy 12.5% ​​of the shares annually for four years. The first tranche (money to Minsk, shares to Moscow) took place in the summer.

And the first large document on the creation of a joint Russian-Belarusian enterprise on the basis of Beltransgaz (formulation designed to refine the usual privatization deal) was signed back in 1993. Just then, intensive negotiations began on the construction of a new route for exporting Russian gas to Europe, an alternative to the Soviet gas transportation infrastructure, which still pumps the lion's share of Russian raw materials to the EU through Ukraine. The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline was built, but it was done by Gazprom itself, and not by a joint venture, which was never formed.

In 2002, another attempt was made to revive the joint venture. The agreement on creating equal conditions in the field of pricing policy and on expanding cooperation between Moscow and Minsk dealt with gas supplies at domestic Russian prices in exchange for the creation of a joint venture on the basis of Beltransgaz. But after a year and a half, the parties still did not agree on the price. Mr. Lukashenko relied on an estimate of $5 billion made by one of the Belarusian state institutions. Gazprom proposed to measure Minsk’s contribution to the future of the joint venture using the balance sheet method, and the book value of Beltransgaz’s assets was $600 million. That is, Gazprom offered $300 million for its share.

It is characteristic that the process began only after things were called by their proper names. Instead of the politically correct joint venture, the term “market buying and selling” appeared in official speeches. Of course, we must not forget that the change in gas relations between Moscow and Minsk was preceded by difficult trials. And a one-day gas war with a complete cessation of supplies of raw materials to Belarus and transit to Europe through its territory for a day (in February 2004). And the speeches of Alexander Lukashenko, in which he compared the Kremlin’s behavior with the activities of Nazi Germany and endowed the leaders of Gazprom with numerous offensive nicknames. As a result, a five-year agreement on gas supplies to Minsk, its transit through the territory of Belarus and the purchase and sale of Beltransgaz was sealed by the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller and First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko to the sound of chimes and the clinking of glasses of champagne.

Irina TSYRULEVA, Natalya ROMANOVA, Nikolay KOCHELYAGIN, Alexey GRIVACH, Nikolay GORELOV, Andrey DENISOV