MINSK, 4 March (BelTA) – A tanker carrying Russian oil bought via traders for Belarusian oil refineries has reached the port of Klaipeda, Lithuania, BelTA learned from Press Secretary of the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim Aleksandr Tishchenko.
The spokesman said: “The first of the two tankers has already arrived in the Klaipeda port. It will begin unloading operations in the evening. Oil delivery to Belarus by rail will begin tomorrow, on 5 March.”
This oil will be processed by the Belarusian oil refinery OAO Naftan.
BelTA reported earlier that Belarus had negotiated the delivery of 160,000 tonnes of Russian oil bought for Belarusian oil refineries through traders without paying a premium.
Apart from that, the Azerbaijani company SOCAR will deliver two shiploads of oil – about 170,000 tonnes. This oil will be delivered to Belarus across Ukraine via the Odessa-Brody pipeline. SOCAR intends to dispatch the first tanker with oil for Belarus from the Turkish port of Ceyhan on 5-6 March. The second tanker is supposed to depart from the Georgian port of Supsa approximately on 20 March.
In addition to that, six Russian companies, including SAFMAR Group and five companies Belarus has not worked with yet, will deliver oil to Belarus in March without a premium. In particular, SAFMAR Group will ship 300,000 tonnes of oil while UDS Oil will deliver 50,000 tonnes.
Belarusian oil refineries will get a total of about 1 million tonnes of oil in March. In January and February the oil refineries operated at 50% of their capacity and processed about 1.8 million tonnes of oil.
