Oil from Chavez - adventure and provocation
- 21.05.2010, 8:40
The plan to deliver oil to Belarus could be a result of Lukashenka and Chavez' inclination to eccentricity and provocation.
Sych an opinion had been expressed by on May 20 to Regnum informational agency by a senior expert of the Institute of energy and finances Mariya Belova.
We remind that on May 18 Deputy Director of Belarusian oil company Alyaksandr Dzyamidau stated that Minsk plans to buy 4 mln tons of Venezuelan oil over 12 months. Though previously according to the plans of the Belarusian leadership, 4 mln tons till the end of this year and 10 more tons in the next year were discussed.
"I haven't changed my sceptical position towards this initiative. This progect is not economically viable, it will have zero, if not negative, effect. As far as I undersand, only 80,000 tons have been delivered to Odessa port and allegedly have been refined. It is not known at all at what conditions it had come. For instance, once YUKOS loaded a 100,000 tons tanker in Novorossiysk port with great pomp, and it travelled to America, and after that it was stated that deliveries of Russian oil to the US start. It's delivered, but certainly not in colossal volumes, taking less than 5% of our export. That is why I admit that the first tanker could have been a good will of Hugo Chavez, and possibly he had loaded the tanker for free," Belova supposed.
"Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Hugo Chavez are venturesome people inclined to provocation. It could not be excluded that the Belarusian leader simply said to Venezuelan colleague: "Bring me oil, let's see how the Russians would react. You bring tanks with diesel oil to poor quarters of New York as a grant aid, don't you?" But Russia hasn't reacted to that in any way officially. In fact, it has become clear that the oil would be transported not via a pipeline, but by rail. It costs a world of money. Besides, I do not reaaly understand how it is refined there," the expert noted.
In response to IA REGNUM Novosti reporter's request to comment on the information that shipping of a second tanker is discussed now, Belova said: "You know, it is stated now that 4 mln tons of oil are planned to be delivered to Belarus over 12 months, and not before the end of the year, not everything runs smoothly at least. It is not hard to bring a tanker, when logistics is established and agreements exist, ther ewill be no problems. There were difficulties with Odessa-Brody pipeline, as they failed to recieve a permission to use it. To transport oil by rail? The amount involved is immense".
Speaking about the possibilty to transport Venezuelan oil via Klaipeda port in Lithuania, the expert noted that one part of the pipeline which goes from Klaipeda belongs to Russia. "The position of Transneft in this respect is as following: the pipeline is in bad condition, so it would not work. Russia simply stopped it once, spitting upon revenues. If a greatly worn out pipeline is stopped, it would be more expensive to bring it back to life then. If Transneft would recieve a proposal to launch the pipeline again, it would deny it on political reasons," Belova underlined.
"It could be transported by rail, too. But again, it causes lpts of problems. It would be impossible to bypass Russia's interests, and to fibnd agreement with it would unlikely be possible," Mariya Belova summed up.