Oil supplies from Russia to Belarus can be resumed as early as next week, the head of "Transneft" Nikolai Tokarev said on January 13. "I think that negotiations will be completed and the price will be confirmed by the end of the week, so oil supplies to Belarus will start by Monday or Tuesday," he said.
According to the head of «Transneft,» he is confident that the dispute with Minsk on the oil price in 2011 will not affect the supply of «black gold» from Russia to other countries. However, Nikolai Tokarev said that Russia was already considering alternative oil supplies to Europe by sea via Primorsk and Novorossiysk, Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said that the issue of resumption of Russian oil supplies to Belarus would be resolved within a week. «We hope that our companies and the Belarusian side will be able to reach a compromise,» said the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy.
As Telegraf previously reported, Russian oil companies cut off oil supplies to Belarus on January 1, 2011 due to lack of contracts for the year. This was informed by the Belarusian State Concern «Belneftekhim» and Russian companies.
