BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/01/2010

Russia and Belarus Resolve Oil Dispute

Posted by Kristin Miller

The stalemate between Russia and Belarus over Russian oil flowing to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline has come to an end. Reuters carried the news on Wednesday of a new agreement between the neighboring ex-Soviet states, at least temporarily ending a dispute that threatened to disrupt oil supplies to much of Eastern Europe. Belarussian Vice Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko was quoted as saying that Minsk would get 6.3 million tons of duty-free oil in 2010 for use within Belarus, while the rest of the pipeline's traffic would see an 11 percent rise in duties; that still gives Belarus a discounted rate on the Russian oil that it refines for export to Europe, though less than the 65-percent discount it had previously enjoyed.

The two states will revisit the deal in September to make adjustments based on demand in the oil market. Russia's deputy prime minister, Igor Sechin, underscored his country's responsibility to its neighbors, and dialed back Russia's threat to cut off oil supplies as a bargaining tactic, as it has done in the past: "The documents that were prepared are very balanced and are pretty compromising and are followed by our joint declaration that guarantees uninterrupted supplies. And this is what European customers expect from us."

Source:

http://www.heatingoil.com/blog/russia-and-belarus-resolve-oil-dispute128/


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