BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/01/2007

Russia cuts duty on oil exports to Belarus to US$53 per tonne, down from $180

Canadian Press

MOSCOW (AP) - Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said Russia has agreed to cut the duty on oil exports to Belarus to US$53 per tonne, down from $180, and Belarus will share with Moscow a substantial amount of profits from the refined oil products it sells to Europe, Russian news agencies reported Friday.

Fradkov was cited by RIA-Novosti and Interfax as making the announcement after some 10 hours of tense talks in Moscow with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Sidorsky.

"We will for example earn US$53 from every metric tonne (of oil) exported to Belarus," Fradkov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

A Kremlin spokesman said he had no information on the talks. A top official with Russian state-controlled pipeline operator OAO Transneft also declined to comment.

The announcement capped a week of tense negotiations and brinkmanship by Russia and Belarus, and came two days after Belarus' government cancelled a $45-per-tonne transit tax on Russian oil, a tax that had prompted Moscow to cut off oil shipments to Belarus and disrupt supplies to Europe.

It also appeared to be a victory, at least monetarily, for Russia, which will reap revenues from both the duty on oil exported to Belarus as well as from some of the billions that Belarus has made from refining cheap Russian oil and selling value-added products to European markets.

The disruption in oil supplies, which affected Germany, Poland and a host of other countries, again rattled many European capital and cast new doubts on Russia's dependability as an energy supplier.

Source:

http://www.canada.com/topics/finance/story.html?id=491b31bb-c31f-4657-a79f-eb7ef18b2b0a&k=39541