BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/02/2007

Russian MP: "We cannot afford to continue depending on Belarus in oil transit"

"From the economic point of view, the project of Unecha-Primorsk oil pipeline construction bypassing Belarus might be not well-grounded, but the conflict with Belarus cast a false color upon us in front of Europe, and we cannot afford to continue depending on Belarus in oil transit," Head of the Russian State Duma Energy Committee Valery Yazev said at a news conference in Moscow on February 14, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

"The project might result in raising oil price by $3 per barrel, which will affect its competitiveness, but I don't think it would empty the Belarusian pipeline," Yazev said.

"Anyway, strategically the decision is clear, we need to secure our exports," Valery Yazev concluded.

Source:

http://www.regnum.ru/english/782573.html