Date of resumption of Belarus–Russia talks on oil still unknown
- 11.01.2010, 9:08
“I do not have this information,” Alyaksandr Tsimashenka, spokesman for the Belarusian Prime Minister, said.
Another round of negotiations in Moscow on January 9 brought no results. A Belarusian delegation headed by deputy prime minister Uladzimir Syamashka visited Russia’s capital on an invitation of Russian vice premier Igor Sechin. As the government’s press service reports, the Belarusian party presented its arguments on the base of regulatory background of the bilateral relations. The delegation backed their position with calculations, adjusted by experts. However, the Russian negotiators didn’t take this into consideration, BelaPAN reports.
The parties put their positions on paper and ended the talks saying they were ready to resume them.
An anonymous oil expert told RIA Novosti Belarus could lose the proposed preferences if it dragged the talks. According to him, Russia proposes to supplies 6.3 million tonnes of oil for domestic needs. Minsk insists on duty-free supplies of all oil processed at Belarusian refineries.
As the expert said, Belarus asks to increase the volume of duty-free supplies up to 30 million tonnes and promises to increase duties on Russian oil transit to 45 dollars per 1 tonne (now 3.9 dollars).
Applying the decreasing coefficient to the oil export duty, the Russia subsidized about $10 billion in the Belarusian economy over three years (2007–2009), the expert noted.
He also called concrete agents working with Russian oil on the Belarusian market. According to him, their activity would be impossible without deeps ties with Belarusian authorities. “The aim of these intermediate institutions is to use different ways to buy Russian crude oil, refine it at Belarusian plants and sell to Poland, Germany, and other countries,” the expert said.
Russia has stated earlier if an agreement for 2010 is not signed, Belarus will have to pay full duty on all oil supplied to the country. Supplies were halted on January 1–2, which was indirectly said by Sechin on January 4 at a meeting with Russian PM Vladimir Putin.