MOSCOW, 24 May (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia have agreed that more oil will be delivered to the Belarusian oil refinery Naftan in order to increase its workload up to 100%. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas made the relevant statement after meeting with Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on 24 May, BelTA has learned.
Sergei Rumas said: “Today we've agreed that we will take additional measures to deliver oil to Naftan so that the oil refinery could operate at 100% of its capacity instead of 65%.”
As for the transit of Russian oil via Belarus, the prime minister noted that loading the transit pipeline with the necessary volume of oil is in the interest of the two countries. “We believe there is still time to reach the volume of transit that usually passes in the direction of Western Europe per year and secure the relevant revenues for Belarusian commercial entities,” Sergei Rumas said.
The prime minister reminded that on 23 May Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Igor Lyashenko and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak signed the roadmap, which specifies steps to resolve the situation with poor-quality oil.
Sergei Rumas noted: “We expect that the pushing of this substandard oil towards the Russian Federation will begin on literally Monday or Tuesday. The oil pipeline in the direction of Western Europe will be cleared.” He added that Belarus and Russia are mutually interested in starting the pumping of quality oil to Europe as soon as possible.
On 19 April Belneftekhim registered a massive decrease in the quality of the Russian oil mixture Urals flowing in transit into the main oil pipeline section operated by OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba. The concentration of chlororganic compounds in oil exceeded standard thresholds dozens of times over. Both Belarusian oil refineries – OAO Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery – were forced to reduce their workload and have experienced financial losses. The oil pipeline system Druzhba is designed to deliver oil to Belarusian oil refineries and transport oil to Europe in transit via Belarus in two directions – via Poland and via Ukraine.
