Next week, a delegation of the state-run concern Belneftekhim will arrive in Kazakhstan to conduct negotiations on oil supplies, tut.by reports with reference to the press service of the Belarusian government.
The visit was agreed by prime ministers Syarhei Rumas and Askar Mamin in Almaty on January, 30.
A day earlier, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka instructed the government to hold talks with Kazakhstan on trade and economic cooperation, in particular, on supplies of oil and oil products to Belarus.
It should be noted that Belarus and Kazakhstan have been discussing the issue since last year. The annual acquisition of up to 3.5 mln tons of oil and oil products has been on the agenda.
While heavy petroleum products can be delivered to Belarus by rail, it would be more profitable to transport oil through the Druzhba pipeline. However, Russia would hardly approve it, the Belarusian leader said on January, 21.
During the discussion of the oil and petrochemical systems, Lukashenka said that Belarus would buy a significant portion of oil from alternative sources at world prices.
“We have to move towards the situation where 30-40% of our oil will be bought in the Russian Federation. We have to bring 30 percent from the Baltic States and 30 percent through Ukraine — it is a proven way. Perhaps, Kazakhstan will be able to supply us with oil if Russia agrees with this. It is strange: our ally does not agree to supply oil from our other ally. Well, this is the situation with oil supplies now, and we have to deal with it,” said the head of state.
Belarusian refineries have been operating at minimum load since January 1, 2020. At the beginning of the new year Russia stopped supplying oil to our country, as last year’s agreement ended and the new one was never signed. Lukashenka and Putin failed to agree on gas and oil prices for Belarus after the talks last year. Now oil from Russia is supplied to Belarusian refineries by the companies of the Safmar group controlled by the oligarch and Lukashenka‘s friend Mikhail Gutseriyev.
Against this background, the president demanded that officials find an alternative to Russian oil. As a result, Belarus stopped exporting oil products to save resources for domestic needs.
On January 14, it became known that the tough position of major Russian oil companies on oil supplies to Belarus is associated with the recommendations of the Kremlin. The matter is that Moscow is dissatisfied with a position of Minsk on coordination of road maps of integration. That is why the Kremlin sees no reason to make concessions to Belarus on the oil issue. The decision to interrupt the supply of black gold to Belarus is due to the instructions of the Russian leadership.
