MINSK, 25 April (BelTA) – Belneftekhim estimates it has failed to earn about $100 million from selling oil products due to the situation around substandard Russian oil, BelTA learned from Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim Vladimir Sizov on 25 April.
The official said: “We are now calculating losses we will incur in April. So far they are close to $100 million. The sum represents lost earnings from sales of oil products.”
In his words, both Belarusian oil refineries – OAO Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery – are now operating at roughly 50% of the workload they had before the quality of Russian oil went through the floor.
Last week Belneftekhim mentioned a sharp decrease in the quality of the Russian oil mixture Urals flowing in transit into the main oil pipeline section operated by OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba. Expensive equipment at Mozyr Oil Refinery has been damaged as a result. Both Belarusian oil refineries – OAO Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery – have been forced to reduce their workload and are experiencing financial losses. On 24 April Poland stopped oil transit via the Druzhba oil pipeline system for an indefinite period of time due to the refusal of Polish and German oil refineries to process poor-quality Russian oil.
