MINSK, 26 February (BelTA) – Five companies will supply oil to Belarus without a premium in addition to the group of companies SAFMAR, Press Secretary of the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim Aleksandr Tishchenko told BelTA.
“These five companies are new suppliers we have not worked with yet. Together with SAFMAR we will have six companies to sell us oil at a market price without a premium in the first quarter of the year,” Aleksandr Tishchenko said.
BelTA reported earlier that on 1 January Russia suspended oil deliveries to Belarus because the sides had failed to come to an agreement about the price. First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Dmitry Krutoi was quoted as saying that Belarus believes it is economically inadvisable and pointless to pay the same amounts of premium to Russian companies. Representatives of the government also stated that all possible options for alternative deliveries were being looked into.
Belarusian oil refineries (Mozyr Oil Refinery and OAO Naftan) are operating at 50% of their capacity and are expected to process about 1.8 million tonnes of oil in January-February.
