The price of the Russian natural gas for Moldova for the first quarter of this year will be by about US$40 per 1,000 cubic meters higher - US$233, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar announced in a news conference on January 4, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valeriu Lazar said that an official letter from Russia's gas giant Gazprom says that the initial price of gas for the first quarter of 2010 is US$228 per 1,000 cubic meters, but taking into account the quality of the gas, the real price will be US$233 per 1,000 cubic meters. “One of the immediate priorities will be to increase the tariffs of the energy resources as the rise from US$192 per 1,000 cubic meters in the last quarter of 2009 to US$233 in 2010 is rather significant,” Lazar said. The minister stressed that it is a foreign factor that the Moldovan authorities cannot manage. “We will work out a number of internal measures aimed at reducing the impact of these inevitable rises,” Valeriu Lazar said. Lazar made it clear that the price of gas for end-users will be set as a result of consultations at different levels, including with the National Agency for Energy Regulation.