Gazprom to increase natural gas price to 500$ / 1,000 cubic meters for deliveries to Europe

The price for natural gas delivered towards Europe will reach 500 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters in October, Gazprom vice president Aleksandr Medvedev announced on Thursday. According to experts’ calculations, the price may even reach 550 US dollars before the end of the year. The extremely high prices will not save the company stock though, which lose ground along with the entire Russian capital market, RBK Daily notes.

The first prognosis for 2008 indicated a price of 310 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters. In March, Gazprom president Aleksei Miller re-opened the issue, saying that the price may grow to 400 dollars, then in June just noted that the price was already 410.

The company may have huge earnings from its exports, but that did not prevent the stock from falling. at the end of the session on Wednesday, the Gazprom shares lost 1.2%, down to 205 rubles, after reaching a minimum of 191 rubles.