That reflected official nerves about an economic squeeze by the Russians, who are driving a hard bargain on gas.
But despite bargain-basement gas prices, transportation costs have shot up more than 50percentt in some parts of the country over the past decade.
Beijing will, by all appearances, be able to drive an even harder bargain for the gas price under the proposed Altai pipeline to western China, a region that has less demand than the industrialised east of the country and already receives cheap gas from nearby Turkmenistan.
It may take some nose-plugging on the part of some groups, but the environmental community needs to strike a bargain with natural gas: mend it, don't end it.
In 2009, she bargained a new deal on natural gas purchases from Russia, under which Ukraine paid a higher price but a middleman with connections to Yanukovych and Gazprom, the giant Russian natural gas company, was eliminated.
Whether that is due to Hugo Chavez's friendship with Vladimir Putin is a matter of dark speculation in Vilnius.The immediate danger for Lithuania is that Russia will drive a hard bargain for the extra gas, most likely by demanding a bigger stake in Lithuania's energy industry.
More than 89% will take a road trip 50 miles or more from home, with gas at bargain prices.
Mr Tusk has proposed an "energy union", including collective EU bargaining with Russia on gas prices, as already happens when buying uranium.
"The bargains and the cheaper gas, combined with the stressed-out consumer who is ready for a break, will trump other concerns," Robert L. Darbelnet, AAA's chief executive, told reporters last week.
He's cheerfully hunting, meanwhile, for investment bargains among U.S. natural gas companies.
