MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) – The Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim is busy signing contracts with major Russian companies. The amount of crude oil Belneftekhim has signed contracts for and intends to get in April is getting close to 2 million tonnes, BelTA learned from Belneftekhim Press Secretary Aleksandr Tishchenko.
The spokesman said: “We are gradually reaching the two million tonnes we intended to acquire. We are working to sign contracts for deliveries in April with ‘the big five' (Rosneft, Tatneft, Surgutneftegas, Lukoil, and Gazprom Neft) and small companies we've previously worked with, including SAFMAR structures.”
Thus, good progress has been secured in efforts to ensure the stable operation of the oil-refining industry. “We are working as we intended to on all the tasks – the stockpiling of reserves, efforts to satisfy domestic demand, export, and alternative deliveries,” the official noted.
Major Russian oil companies stopped shipping oil to Belarus on 1 January due to the absence of an agreement on prices. Belarus believed it was economically inadvisable to pay the same amounts of premiums to Russian companies. Deliveries from major oil companies resumed in April. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas explained that Russian companies would supply oil to Belarus without premiums, some of the premiums will be compensated for by the Russian government using interbudget transactions. Belarus looks forward to receiving 2 million tonnes of oil from Russia in April.
