"Belneftekhim" Press Secretary Marina Kostuchenko reported that Russian duty-free oil had not yet come to Belarusian refineries. "So far the negotiations on oil contracts are underway. Christmas holidays have slowed down the process of negotiations," Marina Kostuchenko said.
Furthermore, this situation with the temporary suspension of oil supplies from Russia hasn’t yet caused concern in «Belneftekhim.» According to its representative, the Belarusian oil refineries possess last-month carry-overs, enough for 20-day work at full capacity, RIA Novosti.
«Talks may be postponed, taking into account available stocks of crude oil and Christmas holidays,» it is believed in «Belneftekhim.»
However, the concern has not commented on the alleged new conditions of Russian oil companies, which is to add $45 more per ton to the pricing formula of duty-free oil.
According to a draft fuel balance of the Union State, the supply of oil from Russia to Belarus should make 21.7 million tons in 2011. In this case, the balance will be indicative without specification of the guaranteed volumes of imports, the concern recalled.
As Telegraf previously reported, the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on December 9 after the Moscow meeting of the Interstate Council of Eurasian Economic Community, that Belarus and Russia would abolish oil duties since January 2011.
According to the Belarusian-Russian intergovernmental agreement in early December, Belarus was to have begun receiving Russian tax-free crude oil since January 1.
The parliament of Belarus ratified all the CES documents on December 21. According to the deputy of the Belarusian government Andrei Kobiakov, petroleum and petroleum products will be delivered to Belarus from Russia duty free and at any volumes after the completion of the ratification of these agreements.
In turn, the Ministry of Finance of Russia counted the size of subsidies Belarus to receive in 2011 in the result of duty-free supplies of Russian oil. According to State Secretary, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov, they will amount to about $4 billion.
In this case, the representative of the Russian government called the recent talks with Belarus successful, as the parties had agreed on the duty-free oil supplies to Minsk.
