Recession-hit Latvia wants to renegotiate a gas-supply contract with Russian energy company OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) because it is paying too high a price, the Baltic state's economy ministry said Friday.
"We haven't had an answer from the Russian side yet," spokesman Sandris Sabajevs told AFP, confirming comments by Economy Minister Artis Kampars in a Latvian newspaper.
Riga would like a reply "yesterday afternoon," Sabajevs said, although he didn't say when Latvia had made its request.
In the interview with the Latvian newspaper Dienas Bizness, Kampars said Riga was pushing to change the terms of a contract with Gazprom, the Baltic state's sole gas provider.
"I've spoken to representatives of Gazprom in Latvia as well as the Russian embassy about a change in the gas delivery contract, which is not beneficial for Latvia," Kampars was quoted as saying.
"I've concluded that [gas] prices on the Amsterdam stock exchange are on average 30% lower than in Latvia and, with that, we're paying for natural gas more than on average in Europe," he said.
According to data from the European Union's statistical office, Eurostat, Latvians have been paying on average 24% more than Lithuanians and 32% more than neighboring Estonians, even though the three Baltic states are connected to the same gas grid.
The Latvian gas group Latvijas Gaze AS (GZE1R.RG), part-owned by Gazprom, signed a long-term gas distribution contract last February, running until 2030.