BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/01/2010

Russia, Belarus to continue crude delivery negotiations on Wednesday

MOSCOW, January 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and Belarus will continue crude delivery negotiations on Wednesday, a source at the Russian government press office told Itar-Tass.

Belarus may start unauthorized taking of Russian crude routed for Europe, a source knowledgeable of the Russia-Belarus crude delivery negotiations said earlier in the day.

"The negotiating parties disregard the fact that crude reserves of Belarusian refineries will last for no more than a week. This means that Belarus may illegally take some of the transited crude if an agreement is not reached by that time," the source said.

"The negotiations are very complicated. The Belarusian delegation is not flexible, as it has to keep to the president's guidelines. At the same time, Belarus has made a number of new offers, including those changing the give-and-take formula and the amount of crude consumption," he said.

"Despite the difficult negotiations, it is possible to sign bilateral documents if Russia makes a minimal compromise and the Belarusian delegation has relevant powers," he said.

"First of all, this is the question of crude transit charges," a Transneft source said. "Results achieved by expert teams are being summed up, and the sides are specifying their positions."

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14757519&PageNum=0


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