Belarus to buy Russian oil at global market prices
First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Dmitry Krutoy, commenting on the talks held in Sochi on February 7, said that the Belarusian oil refineries will buy oil from Russia at global market prices.
"If we talk about the agreement on oil, the oil market, the Russian side agreed that Belarusian refineries will buy oil under agreement with Russian oil companies at prices that are set on the global market," said Krutoy as cited by Belta news agency.
Minsk intends to continue working with all Russian oil companies, negotiations on this issue will begin next week, Krutoy added.
On February 7, the meeting of the presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko took place. As a result, the delegations of the two countries agreed that Russian gas and oil will be delivered to Belarus this year on the terms of 2019.
At the end of December, Russia and Belarus were unable to reach an agreement on the terms for oil transit. Moscow has stopped deliveries as of January 1, and Minsk temporarily suspended its oil products exports, although this was resumed by mid-January. Lukashenko said that if Russia makes its oil too expensive, Belarus will be forced to look for alternative supplies, including the reverse transit of Saudi or US oil through Poland.
In mid-January, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Krutoy said that Minsk considers it inexpedient to continue overpaying Russian companies for oil and is looking for suppliers in other countries. It was later learned that Belarus had bought 80,000 tons of oil from Norway, and that Lukashenko had instructed the government to sign a supply contract with Kazakhstan.
In mid-December, Belarusian Finance Ministry Maksim Yermolovich signed an agreement to take an urgent 3.5 billion yuan loan (around $500 million) from the Shanghai branch of the China Development Bank. Previously it was reported that Belarus had requested such a loan from Russia but had failed to reach an agreement.