Russia said Wednesday that oil supplies to Europe through Belarus are flowing as normal while talks continue following Russia's move to suspend crude oil deliveries to Belarus on Jan. 1.
Russia
said
Wednesday that oil supplies to
Europe
through
Belarus
are
flowing as normal while talks continue following
Russia
's
move to suspend crude oil deliveries to
Belarus
on
Jan. 1.
Russia
's two
biggest oil producers, OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS),
Wednesday confirmed they cut supplies to Belarussian refineries due to a
pricing dispute.
Rosneft and Lukoil are currently in talks with Belarussian officials over the
price of oil, spokespeople for the two companies said.
A similar dispute in January 2010 caused disruptions in the flow through a
pipeline system that supplies around 10% of the European Union's oil needs. However,
a spokesman for Russian state-controlled pipeline operator OAO Transneft
(TRNFP.RS) said transit shipments haven't been affected by the latest dispute.
Russia
sent
around 1.6 million barrels of oil to
Europe
via
Belarus
last
year, primarily to
Germany
and
Poland
, but
volumes are expected to decline slightly this year, as
Russia
expands the Baltic Pipeline System that bypasses
Belarus
.
Belarussian state energy firm Belneftekhim said last week it has enough oil to
last for the rest of January.
"Old contracts have expired and new ones have not been signed so
far," a spokeswoman for Belneftekhim said Wednesday, according to the
Belarussian news agency Belapan. New deals were expected to be signed soon, she
said.
Russian crude exports to
Belarus
dropped 40% last year to around 13 million tons, after
Russia
canceled a discount on export duties.
On Jan. 1,
Belarus
became exempt from paying export duties on Russian oil and oil products when it
entered a customs union with
Russia
and
Kazakhstan
. In
return,
Minsk
will
compensate
Moscow
when
exporting refined products to
Europe
. But
despite the new oil trade agreement the two countries have been unable to agree
on the price of crude to be supplied to
Belarus
this
year.
"The latest incident appears to be more technical than political,"
said IHS Global Insight.
Transneft said the halt in oil supplies was unrelated to a 12.5% tariff
increase for transit through
Belarus
,
which will come into effect Feb. 1.
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