BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/01/2007

Belarus abolishes duty on Russian oil transit

MINSK, Jan 10 (Prime-Tass) -- Belarus has abolished its duty on the transit of Russian oil, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday, ITAR-TASS reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's press office reported that Lukashenko had reached a compromise on the dispute with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, spokesmen for the Kremlin press service and the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said following the report that they were unaware of any new developments in the dispute, Dow Jones Newswires reported Wednesday.

The U.S. $45 per tonne customs duty was imposed earlier this month. Subsequently Belarus interrupted Russian oil deliveries to Europe via the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline before Russia's state-controlled oil pipeline monopoly Transneft stopped pumping its oil to Belarus as well. Belarus seized some of the oil transited, claiming it was not properly cleared by its customs authorities following the introduction of the duty, while Russia accused the former Soviet republic of stealing the oil.

The developments followed the imposition by Russia of a $180.7 per tonne duty on oil exports to Belarus in December 2006. Previously Belarus enjoyed duty-free supplies and benefited from refining Russian crude and subsequently exporting oil products. Russian officials, including President Putin, claimed that the duty-free arrangement cost Russian between $3.5 billion and $4 billion annually.

The conflict between Russia and Belarus comes on the heels of a months-long dispute over the price of Russian natural gas exports to Belarus. In late December, Russia and Belarus reached a deal under which the price of Russian gas supplies and the price Russia pays for gas transit via Belarus were hiked. The Belarusian government also agreed to sell a 50% stake in Belarus' gas pipeline monopoly Beltransgaz to Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom, which is expected to pay for the stake with gas supplies in four years.

Source:

http://www.prime-tass.com/news/show.asp?topicid=68&id=412826