BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/01/2011

Belarus meets domestic product demand despite Russian oil halt

London (Platts)--19Jan2011/645 am EST/1145 GMT

Belarus' oil refineries continue to meet domestic demand for oil products "in full," a spokeswoman for the state refiner Belneftekhim said late Tuesday, despite the ongoing suspension of crude supplies from Russia.

Talks on supplies of Russian crude to Belarus' two refineries, Mozyr and Naftan, continue, the spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Belarus state news agency Belta.

She added that the transit of Russian oil via Belarus was going "flawlessly, without interruptions."

In December, the presidents of Russia and Belarus signed an agreement under which Russia would drop its export duty on all crude shipped to Belarus on January 1 and instead receive export duty on oil products collected by Belarus.

But Belarus' refineries and the Russian oil producers that supply them with crude have yet to agree on a new price formula for deliveries in 2011.

Given the lack of new contracts, crude supplies to Belarus have been halted since January 1. January supplies were initially planned at 1.5 million mt (353,220 b/d) of crude.

--Stuart Elliott, stuart_elliott@platts.com

Source:

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Oil/8428727




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