BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

11/01/2007

Russia, Belarus In Talks To Resolve Oil Crisis As Flow Resumes

Talks began Thursday between Russia and Belarus as the two former Soviet partners attempt to resolve a simmering oil crisis that left Europe cut off from Russia's vast oil exports for three days this week.

Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref met at around midday with Andrei Kobyakov, Belarus' deputy prime minister, to discuss a Russian-imposed tariff on exports of oil into Belarus.

The Russian ministry said that at around 2:00 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 a.m. GMT) the talks were continuing, without elaborating on what had been achieved by either side.

Throughout the duration of the crisis, which began when Minsk cut supplies of Russian oil to Europe Monday morning, the Kremlin has insisted it would enter talks only after Belarus repealed a tariff it had levelled on Russian oil and resumed oil flows into Europe.

Late Wednesday, Belarus started pumping oil West, beginning with 79,000 tons of the fuel it had illegally siphoned. On Thursday morning, Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft resumed its own flow, which had been stopped later Monday.

Representatives of French oil major Total in Germany said that around 10:00 a.m. local time (9:00 a.m. GMT) they had begun receiving supplies of Russian oil.

Belarus' Cabinet had on Wednesday repealed the tariff - of 45 dollars per ton - on Russian oil entering the country for refinement before being transshipped to Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken by telephone with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko earlier in the day, and the Cabinet in Minsk eliminated the tariff shortly afterward. Details of the conversation have not been made public.

The Belarusian tariff had been passed in reaction to a significantly larger Russian tariff - 180 dollars per ton - that was to be the largest issue at stake in Thursday's talks.

Moscow enacted its tariff last month after Belarus unexpectedly withdrew from a profit-sharing agreement between the two states that gave Moscow 85 per cent of the revenue from Russian oil refined in Belarus and sold to Europe.

Also Thursday, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky arrived in Moscow to discuss customs policies with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Fradkov.

The neighbouring states, bound for 70 years by the Soviet Union, have for years been part of a loose political union that Russia is keen to strengthen. The oil crisis has led some to think the stalled process could be revived.

"The crisis has had a healthy effect on the creation of the unified government," Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian parliament's lower house, said Thursday in remarks run by Itar-Tass.

The pipeline that was affected, called the Druzhba, ships 80 million tons of Russian oil to the West each year. That figure comprises the lion's share of the one-quarter of Europe's oil needs that is met by Russia.

Druzhba was stopped Monday morning by Belarus' Gomeltransneft after Russia balked at the now-repealed tariff. Moscow then cut the flow of Druzhba - Russian for friendship - on its end as well.

Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine were all either been cut off entirely from the flow or saw reduced delivery volumes as a result of the dispute.

While European reserves protected consumers against serious oil shortages, the disagreement has caused the EU to once again question Russia's reliability as an energy partner.

Russia cut off natural gas supplies to the Ukraine amid a pricing dispute just over a year ago, and many in the EU worry the source of a third of their gas and a quarter of their oil needs may hold those supplies hostage in order to settle political disputes.

c 2007 DPA

Source:

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_8484-Russia-Belarus-In-Talks-To-Resolve-Oil-Crisis-As-Flow-Resumes.html

Google
 


Partners:
Face.by Social Network
Face.by