Belarus reduces Russian crude import by 60% in Jan-Aug 2020 to $1.739bn

<p> MINSK, Oct 29 - PrimePress. Belarus reduced the import of Russian crude oil in January-August 2020 by 60% year on year to $1.739 billion, the National Statistics Committee of Belarus (Belstat) reports. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belstat did not provide data on the physical volume of imported oil in Jan-Aug 2020. </p> <p>   </p> <p> All in all, Belarus’ oil import in Jan-Jul 2020 totalled 9.127 million tonnes (down 23% year on year) worth $2.061 billion (down 52%). </p> <p>   </p> <p> The average price of oil imported by Belarus in January-August 2020 was $226 per tonne (minus 38.7% from January-August 2019). </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belarus imported 8.393 million tonnes of oil from the CIS in Jan-Jul 2020 (down 29% year on year) and 734,200 tonnes from outside the CIS countries. According to Belstat, Belarus did not purchase oil from the countries other than CIS member states in Jan-Aug 2019. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belarus and Russia agreed in December 2019 on the supply of 24 million tonnes of oil in 2020. However, due to price disagreements in Jan-Mar 2020, Belarus did not enter into long-term contracts with Russian oil companies. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Currently, Belarus is diversifying oil supplies to its two refineries (Mozyr Oil Refinery OJSC, Gomel Oblast, and Naftan OJSC, Novopolotsk, Vitebsk Oblast), continuing bargaining over the price with its main traditional supplier–Russia. Belarus receives Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline and by rail, and oil from alternative suppliers by sea through the ports of Klaipeda (Lithuania) and Odessa (Ukraine). This year, Belarus purchased oil from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the United States. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belarus reduced the import of Russian oil in 2019 by 3.5% yoy to $6.58 billion; in physical terms – by 1.4% to 17.998 million tonnes. The average price of Russian oil for Belarus stood at $365.64 per tonne in 2019, down 2.2% from 2018. End </p>

2020-10-30

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