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Russia’s Rosneft says it has not cut oil deliveries to Belarus

On August 29, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said oil supplies to Belarus would be reduced in the fourth quarter of 2013

STRELNA, September 5 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s oil major Rosneft said it had not cut oil supplies to Belarus. “Supplies have not been cut, we are working in a regular regime,” Rosneft CEO, Igor Sechin, told journalists on Thursday.

On August 29, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said oil supplies to Belarus would be reduced in the fourth quarter of 2013. “Concrete volumes of oil deliveries are set for each quarter,” he said. “Until recently, the sides have not agreed on any concrete volumes. But proceeding from the volumes planned for 2013 and the amounts of oil that have already been delivered to Belarus, a fall in oil supplies should definitely be expected in the fourth quarter.”

He emphasized that Russia’s stance on oil deliveries remained unchanged. “We assume that the Russian side will supply 18.5 million tons to Belarus in 2013 despite the fact that Belarus is insisting on 23 million tons,” he noted. “The expected volumes in the first 8 months of 2013 will amount to almost 15 million tons. He added that Russia would proceed from the declared volumes when negotiating the fourth quarter balance. The Russian deputy prime minister noted specially that the Russian side was meeting its oil delivery commitments in full measure despite a drop in supplies of petroleum products from Belarus.

Two days later, the Rosneft CEO said the company’s losses from decreased oil deliveries to Belarus in the fourth quarter of 2012 would amount to $20 million.