Page 35 - BELRptFeb19

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Belarusian state-owned oil company Belorusneft says it will expand oil production by 20,000 tonnes in 2019 over 2018 up to 1.690mn tonnes, BelTA reports. “In the coming years the company will focus on overcoming the misbalance between reserve growth and production. Such an ambitious task requires a very careful and comprehensive approach to resource management. This implies efforts to increase oil recovery, additional exploration works, and exploratory drilling,” the press service of the company said. Thanks to a comprehensive approach to developing existing and new deposits and introduction of modern technology, the share of commercial reserves in the general structure of carbohydrates has increased, according to the company, as have the number of commercial wells. In 2018 six exploratory wells were sunk. Plans are in place to explore another four subterranean structures. According to Belorusneft estimates, every fifth well drilled by the company in 2019 will become an exploratory well. At present Belorusneft is focused on two areas of work: search for new promising reserves and increasing the efficiency of field development. The company drafted a comprehensive geological prospecting program that provides for developing both traditional and untraditional reserves, Deputy Director General for Geology at Belorusneft Piotr Povzhik said.
The Belarusian oil refineries Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery processed about 18mn tonnes of oil in 2018, Belneftekhim Deputy Chairman of the Board Vladimir Sizov told BelTA. Russia is due to deliver up to 24mn tonnes of Russian oil to Belarus and the two oil refineries are supposed to process 18mn tonnes of this total.
9.1.3 Aviation sector news
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
9.1.7 TMT sector news
35 BELARUS Country Report February 2019
www.intellinews.com
Investment in Minsk Airport is a bet on continuation of the Ukraine-Russia freeze on direct flights . In 2016-2017, the first full two years of the ban, passengers handled by Minsk jumped by 48%. Most of the 1.3mn new passengers a year fly to or from Ukraine. Specializing in the ‘sanctions busting’ trade, Belavia flies to Ukraine’s five largest airports and to eight Russian cities. Kyiv-Minsk is a one-hour hop.
Sugar production in December 2018 amounted to 145,500 tonnes, down from 152,700 in the previous month and compared with 157,600 tonnes in the same month last year. This brought total sugar production in calendar 2018 to 637,900 tonnes.
The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – Armenia,