BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/01/2010

Russia, Belarus sign oil deal, end supply dispute

Russia and Belarus Thursday signed a new deal on the former's oil deliveries to the latter, ending a month-long dispute that had threatened the supply to European countries.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said the two countries had signed a joint declaration pledging the uninterrupted transit of Russian oil across Belarus to third countries.

"The Russian and the Belarussian sides guarantee stable conditions of oil transit across the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus," the countries said.

The documents include changes to previous agreements on the delivery of crude oil to Belarus and the method of setting prices for the sale of Russian oil, Sechin said.

Calling the documents "very balanced" and "representing a compromise," Sechin noted that Russia agreed to compromise on "harsh" conditions because of the special relationship between the neighboring Slavic countries.

Belarussian tariffs for oil in transit would increase by 11 percent, Belarussian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said in a local news report.

In addition, Belarus will this year receive 6.3 million tons of oil duty-free for internal use, Semashko told reporters, adding that Belarus' "budget losses will not be as high as was envisaged very recently."

But the volumes could be adjusted after September if the Belarussian economy grows faster than expected.

Sechin is expected to travel to Belarus next week to discuss the two countries' energy ties.

Russia and Belarus have been at loggerheads since December in a dispute over customs duties that raised fears in the European Union, which had endured a cut of oil supply in 2007 due to a dispute between Russia and Belarus.

The Belarussian spur of the Druzhba pipeline supplies about one-tenth of Europe's shipments from western Siberia, going to Poland and Germany.

Supplies to Europe have not been affected this time but oil prices jumped at the start of the year after Russia suspended shipments to the two refineries in Belarus.

Agencies

Source:

http://business.globaltimes.cn/world/2010-01/501939.html


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