ANKARA, Jan 30 (A.A) - Energy and Natural Resources Minister Zeki Cakan said on Wednesday that the Turkish Pipeline Transportation Inc (Botas) decided to decrease natural gas prices as of February 1, 2002.
Holding a press conference, Cakan said that Botas would decrease price of natural gas it sold to distributors (municipalities) by 6 percent and reduce price of natural gas it sold to industrial enterprises by 10 percent as of February 1.
He said that the price of one cubic meter of natural gas Botas sold to municipalities would be 213,662 Turkish liras (TL) except the value added tax as of February 1, and according to this decision of Botas, price of one cubic meter of natural gas without VAT would be 277,761 TL in Bursa and Eskisehir provinces where Botas was directly distributing the gas.
Stressing that the price of natural gas was set by municipalities in the provinces where Botas did not distribute the gas directly, Cakan said that in accordance with Botas's decrease in prices, the price of one cubic meter of natural gas in Ankara which had been 441,712 TL on January 1, 2002 should decrease to 315,151 TL on February 1.
Cakan added that it was impossible at the moment to make a decrease in the 18 percent VAT rate on natural gas due to the ongoing economic programme.