BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/10/2010

Venezuela to increase by 150 percent oil shipments to Belarus

Pdvsa announced a USD 1.5 billion oil development project with Iran's Petropars to explore and develop an oil block in the northeastern state of Anzoategui

Venezuela will supply Belarus with 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2011, following the agreements signed between the governments of Minsk and Caracas, Rafael Ramirez the Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Petroleum told Reuters.

State-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) currently provides Belarus with some 80,000 bpd. This means that oil shipments will rise by 150 percent from next year.

Venezuela has set a strategy to diversify sale of Venezuelan oil apart from the United States. Pdvsa is selling oil to other clients, mainly to China and Eurasia, to reduce dependence on oil sales to the United States, which is the main customer for Venezuelan crude oil.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Minister said: "We do not sell oil at a discount to anybody... We are shipping oil to Belarus at market prices, above the WTI (West Texas Intermediate) value. We have had a price of USD 78 per barrel since April, USD 0.60 above the WTI ... The accumulated bill is USD 871 million," Ramirez said with regard to the deal with Belarus.

Source:

http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/10/28/en_eco_esp_venezuela-to-increas_28A4664821.shtml