BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/02/2007

Belarus raising oil transit tariff not to affect Europe -Transneft

MOSCOW, February 5 (Itar-Tass) - Belarus' increasing the transit tariff on Russian oil will not raise its price for European users, Transneft company's vice president Sergei Grigoryev said.

He told Itar-Tass on Monday that Transneft had not yet got a formally notice about the increase in the transit tariff.

"As soon as we receive the document, we shall begin talks, and we shall inform oil companies about the change in the cost of oil transportation and re-conclude the agreement," Grigoryev said.

"I think that the oil price will not change for the Europeans. Maybe Russian oilmen will incur additional expenditures," he said.

The Belarussian Economic Ministry declared that it would increase the price of oil transit on February 15 from the current 1.3 to 3.5 dollars a tonne per 100 kilometres.

The transit tariff was agreed with the Russian Fuel and Energy Ministry back in 1995. It was 0.41-0.6 dollars a tonne and did not change since then.

Last year, Russia transported 78 million tonnes of oil through Belarus' pipeline, which was 99 percent of the 2005 amount.

Source:

http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11221250&PageNum=0

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