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media reported on September 19 citing official statistics. Recently, Belarus urged Russia not to cancel exports of petroleum products to Belarus , which Moscow argues are not economically viable. According to Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko, Minsk is against any "abrupt moves". "We need stability," Lyashenko said. The Russian government is about to implement a crushing change for Belarus' battered state budget by cancelling exports of petroleum products. According to Russian Energy Minister Aleksander Novak, "the indicative balance [of petroleum products exports] envisages zero figures for the supply of petroleum products from Russia to Belarus". He added that Belarus is able to fully supply itself with its own petroleum products refined from crude oil from Russia. According to Minsk's official data, Belarus’ imports of petroleum products from Russia grew by 49.4% year-on-year in January-June. According to Minsk-based news agency BelaPAN, energy resources reportedly accounted for half of all imports from Russia in the first half of 2018, which totalled $11bn. Specifically, Belarus imported 9.09mn tonnes of oil worth $3.4bn and 2.1mn tonnes of petroleum products worth $800mn.
Russian is going to cancel exports of petroleum products to Belarus due to the fact that they are economically inexpedient, Russian Energy Minister Aleksander Novak said on September 3.
"The indicative balance [of petroleum products exports] envisages zero figures for the supply of petroleum products from Russia to Belarus," TASS quoted Novak as saying.
He added that Belarus is able to fully supply itself with its own petroleum products refined from crude oil from Russia.
According to Minsk's official data, Belarus’ imports of petroleum products from Russia grew by 49.4% year-on-year in January-June. According to Minsk-based news agency BelaPAN, energy resources reportedly accounted for half of all imports from Russia in the first half of 2018, which totalled $11bn. Specifically, Belarus imported 9.09mn tonnes of oil worth $3.4bn and 2.1mn tonnes of petroleum products worth $800mn.
According to recent Reuters report, Russia is going to cut exports of refined oil products to Belarus in a bid to curtail re-exports from the country, which come at the expense of the Russian budget.
Russia is supplying Belarus’ two refineries with around 18mn tonnes of crude oil a year to help its neighbour meet domestic needs. Supplies are not subject to export duties as Moscow and Minsk have a joint customs zone, meaning that Russia is effectively supporting its neighbour with cheap energy.
In the past few years, Belarus has also increased imports of refined products from Russia, which are also free of duties, while increasing re-exports of refined products to European countries such as Poland and Germany.
Russia is now seeking to effectively curtail re-exports of its refined products via Belarus by imposing limits on the volumes that can flow from Russia to Belarus after September 1. "Russia is imposing a ban on unlimited shipments of refined products to Belarus, arguing that it is facing lower budget revenues as volumes keep growing," Belarusian state energy company Belneftekhim wrote in a note commenting on upcoming changes.
30 BELARUS Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com