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January 03, 2006
Dispute over natural gas
As winter continues, the Russians and Ukranians are having difficulty agreeing on the price of Russian gas through the Ukraine. It's on the news in France, because this country depends on Russian natural gas in part. Forbes.com also has a writeup.
Putin reportedly set the terms for a new Ukraine contract--three months of gas at last year's prices, then an increase to market rates. Ukraine had been paying about $50 per thousand cubic meters of gas; Russia was looking for $230 before the talks broke down Sunday.
Slight difference in views on the price there. Russians claim Ukranians are siphoning off gas, which Ukranians deny. I wonder why they don't both gang up on the western European countries to loosen the purse strings. No doubt the Ukrainians are asking for lower prices so they don't die of hypothermia, not because they'd rather buy 1G iPods with the money instead. I would expect them to take a clue from civil suit lawyers in the US and go after the deep pockets, wherever those pockets happen to be.
Right after the above quote by the way was the quote from the WTO rep:
"These countries should pay today's market prices for their energy to improve the efficiency of their economies," Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, was quoted by AFX as saying of former Soviet satellite states.
I agree. Let's also charge people the oil prices cited in Critical Path, the ones with the externalities figured in, to improve the energy efficiency of our economies.
Posted by Mark at January 3, 2006 07:09 AM
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