Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Novgorod region, Russia, September 10, 2016. Sputnik/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin/via REUTERS

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus will receive gas from Russia at the same price as before, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday, denying earlier reports from Belarus that the two countries had agreed to a lower price to resolve a months-long dispute.

The long-term allies have been at odds since the start of 2016 over how much Minsk should be paying Russia’s Gazprom for gas supplies following a slump in global energy prices.

Earlier on Monday, senior Belarussian officials said the dispute had been resolved and Russia had offered a significant price cut for gas, state news agency Belta reported.

However later Russia’s Medvedev said the price had not changed.

“To avoid incorrect interpretations, I want to once again stress that the price for gas supplied to Belarus remains as before, calculated on the existing formula,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

As a result of the dispute, Russia in July cut oil supplies to Belarus’s refineries by 40 percent compared with the previous quarter. The refineries rely on Russian oil to make the products that account for around a fifth of Belarussian exports.

Deputy Russian Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said oil deliveries to Belarus would return to 24 million tonnes this year after the resolution of the gas pricing issue, agency RIA reported.