Georgia would negotiate with its Russian gas supplier Gazprom for an acceptable price but would also look for alternative sources of supply, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on Friday.

"If Georgia is going to buy gas in Russia, the price should be appropriate for the region," Nogaideli told a government meeting, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Thursday it planned to charge 230 U.S. dollars for every 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas supplied to Georgia next year, more than doubling the current price of 110 dollars.

The new price was part of proposals sent to the Georgian side from Gazprom, but a deal has yet to be signed, a company official said.

"This price is significantly different than the price set for other countries in the region," Nogaideli said.

He said Ukraine would be buying gas from Gazprom at 130 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters starting in 2007, Armenia at 110 dollars and some European countries at less than 230 dollars.

Nogaideli said authorities would do everything possible to secure the most acceptable price with Gazprom for Russian gas but at the same time work was underway to find alternative sources of supplies.

Gazprom nearly doubled the price of gas supplied to Ukraine at the start of this year after a bitter dispute, at the height of which Russia briefly cut off supplies to the eastern neighbor. Ukraine is currently paying 95 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.

Source: Xinhua