Russian and Belarusian Prime Ministers discussed the issues of transportation of oil products via Russian ports

Belarus and Russia intend to sign an intergovernmental agreement to redirect Belarusian transit freight to Russian sea ports soon, Golovchenko noted:

• We discussed the transshipment of Belarusian cargoes, in particular oil products, through Russian ports
• This task was set forth by the president in connection with the known approaches of the Baltic countries and their unfriendly position towards Belarus
• We are planning to sign an intergovernmental agreement soon
• We expect the economic conditions in Russian ports for our traders and forwarders at least not worse than we had in the Baltic port

• The issue of common markets [of energy resources] is quite difficult because it involves tariffs and subsidies
• We expect that we will move much faster on this track within the framework of the Union State
• For Belarus, this does not mean any special prices
• Since we have decided to build a single economic space, we should aim for a level playing field for business and equal prices, most importantly, tariffs for the transportation of energy resources

Total Russian oil supplies to Belarus in 2021 will likely amount to as much as 18 million tons, enough to cover all of the latter’s refining needs this year. Crude coming from Azerbaijan´s SOCAR in 2021 under a just-signed contract is expected to remain at the current level, limited to 1 tanker delivery per month.