BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/03/2007

Belarus to Charge Rent for Land under Power Lines, Oil and Gas Pipelines

MosNews

On Tuesday, March 20, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree to charge rent on land under power lines, oil and gas pipelines.

The move echoes a gas price row earlier this year when Moscow doubled the gas price for Belarus and imposed a duty on Belarus-bound oil exports. Minsk retaliated by introducing a transit fee on Russian crude going to Europe. The dispute culminated in Russia suspending oil exports to Europe.

Belarus, formerly Russia's closest post-Soviet ally, expects to earn $50 million from newly introduced rents on the land under Russian-operated oil and gas pipelines.

Russian natural gas giant, Gazprom, transports gas to Europe via the Belarusian section of the Gazprom-controlled Yamal-Europe pipeline, with a capacity of 24.8 billion cubic meters a year, and also through gas pipelines owned by Beltransgaz, the Belarusian pipeline monopoly, with a capacity of 51 billion cubic meters.

Russian crude is pumped to Germany, Poland and Ukraine through the Druzhba pipeline, with a capacity of 81 million metric tons a year, including the Belarusian section Unecha-Mozyr. Russia's Transneft pipeline monopoly operates the Druzhba pipeline.

Russia's energy spats with Belarus and Ukraine have undermined its reputation as a reliable energy supplier and drawn accusations of using energy as a political lever.

Source:

http://www.mosnews.com/money/2007/03/21/belarusrent.shtml