NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
Belarus needs to do its best to diversify its exports and markets, Vadim Iosub, senior analyst of Alpari Company, said during an online video-briefing at the website of the National Press Center and the Union State Information and Analytical Portal on 8 September, BelTA has learned.
“Belarus is strongly reliant on one sector, which is oil processing, and one market, namely Russia. To make our future less dependant on the prices for one commodity, we should try hard to diversify both the exports and markets,” the expert said.
In his words, the oil market has been demonstrating a continuous supply-demand imbalance. “To be more specific, the supply for the ‘black gold’ exceeds its demand. One of the reasons behind it is the OPEC which does not want to lower daily extraction amounts. Moreover, even the current quotas, i.e. 30 million barrels a day, are exceeded by about 1.5-2 million barrels on average,” Vadim Iosub explained.
“In order to increase prices, oil production needs to be reduced. Every country is afraid that if it takes such a step, others will no support it. No one trusts anyone. As a result, the production continues to grow while oil prices have been dropping further,” the senior analyst said.
According to Vadim Iosub, this directly affects all oil-producing countries and, strange as it may seem, Belarus that has never been a big oil country.
Explaining this factor, the expert pointed out two influence channels. Firstly, sale of oil products abroad is an important item of Belarus’ exports. “The cheaper the oil is, the lower the margin of its processing is. In addition, Belarus sees less revenue from the export of oil products,” Vadim Iosub said.
The second channel is directly related to Russia. Falling oil prices have hit the Russian economy hard. This means a reduced demand for Belarusian products. “Apart from that, the gradual decline in the value of the Russian ruble has been making Belarusian products less competitive on the Russian market,” he said.
“Belarus is strongly reliant on one sector, which is oil processing, and one market, namely Russia. To make our future less dependant on the prices for one commodity, we should try hard to diversify both the exports and markets,” the expert said.
In his words, the oil market has been demonstrating a continuous supply-demand imbalance. “To be more specific, the supply for the ‘black gold’ exceeds its demand. One of the reasons behind it is the OPEC which does not want to lower daily extraction amounts. Moreover, even the current quotas, i.e. 30 million barrels a day, are exceeded by about 1.5-2 million barrels on average,” Vadim Iosub explained.
“In order to increase prices, oil production needs to be reduced. Every country is afraid that if it takes such a step, others will no support it. No one trusts anyone. As a result, the production continues to grow while oil prices have been dropping further,” the senior analyst said.
According to Vadim Iosub, this directly affects all oil-producing countries and, strange as it may seem, Belarus that has never been a big oil country.
Explaining this factor, the expert pointed out two influence channels. Firstly, sale of oil products abroad is an important item of Belarus’ exports. “The cheaper the oil is, the lower the margin of its processing is. In addition, Belarus sees less revenue from the export of oil products,” Vadim Iosub said.
The second channel is directly related to Russia. Falling oil prices have hit the Russian economy hard. This means a reduced demand for Belarusian products. “Apart from that, the gradual decline in the value of the Russian ruble has been making Belarusian products less competitive on the Russian market,” he said.
