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Russia's Transneft starts oil supplies to Belarusian refineries

All in all, Russian companies have applied for oil supply to Belarus in April in the amount of around 1 mln tonnes

© Natalia Fedosenko/TASS

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Transneft has started oil supplies to Belarusian refineries as directed by routing instructions, spokesman of the Russian pipeline operator Igor Demin told reporters on Monday.

Read also

Belarusian refineries enter contracts for Russian oil supplies at price of $4 per barrel

"Supplies to Belarusian refineries are underway as directed by endorsed routing instructions," he said.

"We confirm," press secretary of the state concern Belneftekhim Alexander Tishchenko told reporters when asked about the start of supplies.

Transneft’s representative said last week that four Russian oil companies started registering routing instructions on oil supplies to Belarusian refineries in April. He added that those were companies traditionally supplying oil to Belarusian refineries.

Rosneft informed last week that it had signed oil supply contracts with Belarusian refineries under the terms stated earlier — with the premium of $5 per tonne.

All in all, Russian companies have applied for oil supply to Belarus in April in the amount of around 1 mln tonnes.

Deliveries were halted on January 1 as the sides failed to come to an agreement on the premium, which Belarus paid earlier to oil companies for receiving oil duty-free. Belneftekhim refused to pay the premium in 2020, noting that Minsk suffers losses due to the tax maneuver in Russia, as a result of which the oil export duty is slashed to zero. Of all Russian companies supplying hydrocarbons to the country, only Safmar Group did not suspend exports.

The sides only agreed to resume regular supplies by the end of March. Belarus will stop paying the premium overlay to Russian companies in April, the issue will be settled through intergovernmental transfers, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas said earlier.

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