Lukashenko orders that a replacement for Russian oil be found
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, ordered the state to replace Russian oil supplies with alternate suppliers, as was reported on Friday, 20 January, by BelTa.
It is noted that the order was given against the background of a reduction in Russian oil supplies to Belarus.
“There is no catastrophe, but reduced Russian oil supplies should be replaced with alternative sources,” the head of the country stated. According to him, new routes have been not only worked out, but also tested. The delivery of oil from the Black and Mediterranean Seas to Belarusian oil refineries is among them.
On 9 January, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia and the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of Belarus were not able to agree on oil transporting tariffs throughout the territory of the Republic in 2017. On the same day the newspaper Kommersant reported that Russia intended to reduce oil supplies to Belarus from 4.5 to 4 million tons in the first quarter after the parties failed to find a solution to the gas dispute.