DAVOS, January 22. /TASS/. Lukoil does not plan to compensate Belarus for losses due to a tax maneuver in the oil industry and to resume the supply of oil to the country's refineries on favorable terms, head of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov told TASS on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"These relations developed after the introduction of the tax maneuver. We work on commercial terms. The tax maneuver is not a proposal from Russian oil companies, we are victims, just like the Belarusians. Therefore, we are not going to compensate for the losses that the Belarusian side suffers. This is an intergovernmental relationship," he said.
Alekperov also said that Lukoil redirected the volumes of oil previously supplied to Belarus to other directions. At the same time, this did not affect the company's production. "Yes, (we have redirected -TASS), production was not affected in any way. Only those restrictions that exist under OPEC+ affect production," he added.
Head of Belneftekhim Andrey Rybakov said earlier that Belarus is ready to conclude contracts on "alternative oil supplies" in the near future. That means that Belarus will start receiving oil from other states than Russia. "Alternative deliveries are being worked out. I will not announce it, but there are some contracts, which are almost ready," Rybakov said as quoted by BelTA. He did not specify from which countries oil would be delivered. Speaking about alternative supplies, Rybakov said that "this applies not only to the oil itself, but also to the logistics channels.
The head of Belneftekhim recalled that Belarus had entered into a contract for the supply of 80,000 tonnes of oil from Norway, which will go to OJSC Naftan.
Minsk and Moscow have been negotiating the supply of Russian hydrocarbons to Belarus.
On December 30-31, 2019, Presidents of Belarus and Russia Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, discussed this issue by telephone.
Following the talks, Lukashenko instructed the authorities to conclude contracts with companies from Russia for the supply of oil in 2020 to ensure the smooth operation of two Belarusian oil refineries, but no documents were signed by January 1.
At the same time, Lukashenko instructed the leadership of the petrochemical complex to work out options for alternative supplies of hydrocarbons.
On January 14, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Dmitry Krutoy announced that the government had sent commercial proposals for the purchase of oil to Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and the Baltic countries.
On January 3, Belneftekhim stated that the supplies of Russian oil were not conduced. The loading of the oil refineries was reduced to the minimum technologically permissible level.
On January 4, one-time contracts for the supply of oil to Belarusian refineries were resumed. According to a TASS source familiar with the negotiations between the companies, a schedule for Russian oil supplies to Belarus has been signed, and it is planned to deliver about 600,000 tonnes of oil by the end of the month.
On January 20, it became known that Belarus had bought 80,000 tonnes of oil from Norway.