BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/01/2007

Russian crude stops flowing to Europe

MINSK, Belarus, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Russian crude oil stopped flowing to Europe through Belarus Monday amid charges Belarus illegally siphoned off tons of Europe-bound oil, officials said.

"Oil supplies via the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline to Poland and Germany were halted overnight," Poland's PERN pipeline spokesman Tomasz Zakrzewski said. "We sent a letter to Belarus asking for explanations."

The head of Russia's oil pipeline monopoly accused Belarus of siphoning off 79,000 metric tons of oil since Saturday, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.

Belarus's Foreign Ministry denied Belarus was responsible for the halting, saying Russia cut off the supply at their common border.

Poland, Germany and Ukraine were affected by the disruption.

Russia more than doubled its natural gas price for Belarus to $100 per 1,000 cubic meters as of Jan. 1 and imposed an oil-export duty of $180.70 per metric ton, the news agency said. Belarus responded Jan. 3 by introducing a transit duty fee of $45 per metric ton of Russian oil.

Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Sharonov said Belarus seized oil from the pipeline to pay for the transit fee.

Source:

http://www.market-day.net/article_48908/20070108/Russian-crude-stops-flowing-to-Europe.php

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