BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/01/2010

Russia averts oil crisis as it ends Belarus embargo

By Charles Clover in Moscow

A European energy crisis has been averted after Russia restarted oil shipments to Belarus, following a cut-off lasting several days.

The two sides remain locked in a dispute over the tariffs Belarus must pay for oil, which it refines and exports to Europe. But Igor Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister, said yesterday during a meeting with Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, that supplies had resumed the day before.

"We yesterday started shipments to Belarusian refineries," Mr Sechin was quoted as saying, adding "We are continuing uninterrupted transit to western European customers."

Mr Putin said he hoped an agreement with Belarus would be reached soon.

Oil traders had said on Sunday that the supplies had stopped after talks over tariffs ended unsuccessfully on December 31. The talks have since restarted.

About 800,000 barrels a day of oil are transported through Belarus to Poland and Germany, and, while these volumes were never cut, the spat raised the prospect that Belarus could retaliate for the Russian cut by drawing off exports bound for Europe.

Ukraine was accused of doing this last January during a similar dispute over gas with Russia, which left several east European cities without gas for several days.

At one point yesterday, Belarus threatened to retaliate by cutting off supplies of electricity to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and which receives electricity via Belarus.

The European Union confirmed yesterday that it had received no warning from Russia that a cut-off in oil supplies via Belarus was possible, despite the existence of an early-warning mechanism agreed last year in the wake of the row with Ukraine.

Additional reporting by Tony Barber in Brussels

Source:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/08825240-f99a-11de-8085-00144feab49a.html


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