Belarus achieves good oil and gas supply terms in trade with Russia in 2021 – Golovchenko
<p> MINSK, Dec 29, PrimePress. Belarus and Russia reached an agreement on oil and gas supplies in 2021 on favorable terms, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said on December 29, 2020. </p> <p> </p> <p> “There was some bargaining over the terms, as always. The talks ended well, as favorable terms were set for Belarus,” said Golovchenko. </p> <p> </p> <p> He called the price of Russian natural gas for 2021 “quite comfortable.” It virtually remains unchanged against 2020. “Compared with the prices on the world spot markets, Belarus buys gas at almost halved price,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> According to Golovchenko, Belarus is second largest European buyer of natural gas from Gazprom, so “it’s quite natural that there is a special price for a big buyer.” </p> <p> </p> <p> Golovchenko said contracts with all major oil suppliers had been signed. “Few not very large suppliers are yet to be negotiated with, but this is a mere technicality. We enter the year 2021 without worries,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> When asked about the inter-budget transfers to compensate oil supply premiums, Golovchenko said that this was part of a bigger package of agreements, and it was not supposed to cover 2021. “The inter-budget transfers were a one-time deal, so to speak. We basically want to abolish any kind of inter-government transfers, which do not entirely agree with market-oriented policies,” said Golovchenko. </p> <p> </p> <p> According to the premier, Belarus will save around $750,000 per day on gas purchases once the first power unit of the Belarusian NPP (Astravyets District, Grodno Oblast) has been launched. </p> <p> </p> <p> Head of Russian gas monopolist Gazprom Alexei Miller met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko and Energy Minister of Belarus Viktor Karankevich in St. Petersburg on December 24, 2020. Miller and Karankevich signed a protocol on the gas pricing procedure for Belarus in 2021. The price of gas has not been specified yet. Belarus currently pays $127 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas. The Energy Ministry of Belarus says that the agreed gas price for 2021 will be very close to that set for 2020. The ministry has not specified the exact price. </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, Belarus and Russia failed to agree on the full resumption of oil supplies in early 2020 (24 million tonnes were planned for 2020) due to price disputes, in particular, the Russian export premiums of $10-12 per tonne for Russian oil suppliers. </p> <p> </p> <p> During the intergovernmental talks on oil supply resumption held in late March 2020, the parties agreed that Russian oil companies would make a $7 per tonne discount to the premiums, and the $4.7 per tonne premium would be covered by the Russian budget by means of inter-budget transfers, but only in 2020 if the oil price would not be over $40-45 per barrel. </p> <p> </p> <p> Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told Reuters in June 2020 that Russia could give Belarus $60-70 million in oil supply premium compensation in 2020 through inter-budget transfers, and this was only considered for 2020. End </p>
2020-12-30
Primepress
MINSK, Dec 29, PrimePress. Belarus and Russia reached an agreement on oil and gas supplies in 2021 on favorable terms, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said on December 29, 2020.
“There was some bargaining over the terms, as always. The talks ended well, as favorable terms were set for Belarus,” said Golovchenko.
He called the price of Russian natural gas for 2021 “quite comfortable.” It virtually remains unchanged against 2020. “Compared with the prices on the world spot markets, Belarus buys gas at almost halved price,” he said.
According to Golovchenko, Belarus is second largest European buyer of natural gas from Gazprom, so “it’s quite natural that there is a special price for a big buyer.”
Golovchenko said contracts with all major oil suppliers had been signed. “Few not very large suppliers are yet to be negotiated with, but this is a mere technicality. We enter the year 2021 without worries,” he said.
When asked about the inter-budget transfers to compensate oil supply premiums, Golovchenko said that this was part of a bigger package of agreements, and it was not supposed to cover 2021. “The inter-budget transfers were a one-time deal, so to speak. We basically want to abolish any kind of inter-government transfers, which do not entirely agree with market-oriented policies,” said Golovchenko.
According to the premier, Belarus will save around $750,000 per day on gas purchases once the first power unit of the Belarusian NPP (Astravyets District, Grodno Oblast) has been launched.
Head of Russian gas monopolist Gazprom Alexei Miller met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko and Energy Minister of Belarus Viktor Karankevich in St. Petersburg on December 24, 2020. Miller and Karankevich signed a protocol on the gas pricing procedure for Belarus in 2021. The price of gas has not been specified yet. Belarus currently pays $127 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas. The Energy Ministry of Belarus says that the agreed gas price for 2021 will be very close to that set for 2020. The ministry has not specified the exact price.
As previously reported, Belarus and Russia failed to agree on the full resumption of oil supplies in early 2020 (24 million tonnes were planned for 2020) due to price disputes, in particular, the Russian export premiums of $10-12 per tonne for Russian oil suppliers.
During the intergovernmental talks on oil supply resumption held in late March 2020, the parties agreed that Russian oil companies would make a $7 per tonne discount to the premiums, and the $4.7 per tonne premium would be covered by the Russian budget by means of inter-budget transfers, but only in 2020 if the oil price would not be over $40-45 per barrel.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told Reuters in June 2020 that Russia could give Belarus $60-70 million in oil supply premium compensation in 2020 through inter-budget transfers, and this was only considered for 2020. End