Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Lukashenko’s Friend And Oil Tycoon To Supply 750,000 Tons Of Oil To Belarus

TUT.BY / BelarusFeed

Lukashenko’s Friend And Oil Tycoon To Supply 750,000 Tons Of Oil To Belarus
Mikhail Gutseriev, President of Oil and Gas Company RussNeft. Photo: Reuters
Two Russian oil firms controlled by Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev are ready to supply about 750 thousand tons of oil to Belarus in January. A source familiar with the group’s plans informed TUT.BY.

In the first quarter, oil companies of the Safmar group were supposed to supply 750,000 tons of oil (650,000 tons through the pipeline and another 100,000 tons by rail.)

"It is likely that by the end of January all the volume will be delivered to Belarus,” the unnamed source said.

The first deliveries began last week. By 10 January, oil companies of Mikhail Gutseriev should deliver about 130,000 tons of oil to Belarus. The press service of the Safmar group didn’t comment on the potential volume of oil supplies to Belarus.

At the same time, it noted that oil production of 18 million tons by the group’s companies “will fulfil the obligations for the supply of oil to the domestic market in full and also ensure the supply of oil to Belarus in full, according to the schedule approved by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation”.

Recall that on 4 January, the press service of the Belneftekhim state concern announced that Belarus had agreed to supply the first batch of oil from Russia without a premium for the supplier. On the same day, oil pumping to Belarusian refineries was resumed.



On 1 January 2020 Russian oil companies halted oil supplies to Belarus due to differences in the price of raw materials. Minsk insisted on the abolition of the premium on the price of duty-free oil supplies, citing the rising cost of raw materials caused by Russia’s tax maneuver in the oil sector.

According to Belneftekhim, currently, the price of oil supplies from Russia is 83% of the world oil price. The size of the premium is 10 dollars per ton. Neither Minsk nor Moscow disclose the price of supplies. According to Belstat, in January-October 2019, Belarus imported oil from Russia at an average price of $ 364 per ton.

Deliveries from Gutseriev’s companies are a small amount. In mid-December, the governments of Russia and Belarus agreed on an indicative balance of oil supplies for 2020, which involves the import of 24 million tons into the country, 23,5 million tons of them through the pipeline.

TASS, citing a top-level source in the industry, said that Russian companies are ready to resume oil supplies to Belarusian refineries, but only if they agree to work on the 2019 market conditions.