Tariff regulator cuts Gazprom's wholesale prices for industrial consumers 3% Apr 1
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - The management board of Russia's Federal Tariff Service (FTS) has decided to reduce Gazprom's wholesale gas prices for industrial consumers by an average of 3% starting on April 1, 2013.
This year, gas prices for industrial consumers are calculated on a quarterly basis using a formula, which is a derivative of prices for fuel oil and gas oil in Europe (Rotterdam) with a nine-month lag. According to expert estimates made in accordance with the provision to determine wholesale gas prices for Q2 2013, prices fell 10% below the existing value.
These calculated values passed outside of the corridor envisaged by Russian government order #1205 dated December 31, 2010, which stipulated maximum changes of -3 to +3 percentage points relative to the average value set out in the socio-economic development forecast. However, the regulated price itself cannot fall outside of this corridor, meaning that it will only fall by 3%, instead of 10%.
The price change in Q4 2013 will be adjusted to the official forecast for gas price growth of 15% for the year.
