BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/12/2006

Russia resumes talks on sharing Belarus oil product export duties - Semashko

MINSK. Dec 27 (Interfax) - Russia has again launched negotiations on sharing Belarus' export duties on oil products, Belarussian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko told journalists on Wednesday.

"Russia has already moved to start talks on the export duties on oil products. There is an order issued by the Russian prime minister," he said.

"But not everything is lost. Belarus has forwarded a draft agreement on duty sharing to the [Russian] government on December 13. The Russian prime minister issued an instruction to study it before the end of the year. This deadline was later postponed to January 17," he said.

The administration of the Belneftekhim company is currently engaged in talks with Russian oil suppliers on the price for oil at the beginning of 2007, Semashko said. An export duty of $180.7 per tonne will be levied on oil shipments to Belarus, he said.

"Regrettably, the price will grow from $247.5 in December to $405 in January on average due to the duty. These figures are increasingly painful for the economy," the first deputy prime minister said.

"My impression is that they [in Russia] want to stop our oil refineries," he said.

Source:

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11654312

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