Russia will reduce oil supply to Belarus

Russia intends to reduce oil supplies to Belarus in the first quarter of 2017. According to Kommersant, this was announced by a source familiar with the situation. According to the publication, supplies will be reduced to 4 million tons per quarter instead of the current 4.5 million.

According to sources, the Russian Ministry of Energy on December 28, 2016 transmitted a new schedule of the Belarusian side, but Minsk did not agree with this approach.

Moscow and Minsk could not agree on the issues of paying off the debt of Belarus for Russian gas. The debt has been accumulating since January 2016, when Belarus, demanding a decrease in the cost of raw materials, began to pay less unilaterally. By the end of November, the debt was about $ 425 million. In turn, Moscow linked the gas issue with oil supplies, reducing them from the promised 5.3 million tons to the quarter at first to 3.5 million tons, and in October-December up to 3 million tons.

Russia is noted in the material, agreed to provide Belarus with a certain subsidy by crediting customs duties on Russian oil in the Belarusian budget, while Minsk was supposed to fully repay gas debt. Belarus, however, asked for additional concessions in the form of a loan allocation, and in the end it was not possible to agree.

The intention to reduce oil supplies to Belarus in Russia was warned in June 2016. “Our Belarusian partners are not paying us for gas, we lose money because of this, including in the budget, since Gazprom is a large taxpayer, and of course we are forced to look for compensation options,” said Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.