MINSK,:The Belarusian government on Tuesday announced its tariffs for reverse deliveries of contaminated oil to Russia via its pipeline system.
According to a decree by the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade, published by the national legal information database early on Tuesday, transporting one tonne of oil from the Belarusian oil terminal of Mozyr to Unecha (Vysokoye) in western Russia would cost 70.44 Russian rubles (about $1), which is equal to the current Unecha (Vysokoye) – Mozyr transportation tariff in place since February 1.
Transporting one tonne of oil via the Unecha-Polotsk route in Belarus and further to the town of Nevel in Russia’s Pskov region would cost 191.2 Russian rubles (about $3).
The decree is applicable to business contacts that came into existence since May 23, 2019, and will expire on October 1, 2019.
Earlier, Russia and Belarus agreed on the scheme of removing dirty oil from the republic’s facilities and delivering it back to Russia. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the estimated reverse supplies of contaminated oil from Belarus amounts to one million tonnes.
As of midnight Moscow time on May 27, about 80,000 tonnes of oil have been sent to Russia from the territory of Belarus.
On April 19, Belarusian concern Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration of the quality of the Russian oil running through the Druzhba oil pipeline and subsequently informed pipeline operators from other countries about the situation. The content of organochloride compounds in oil was dozens of times above the limit value, the company said.
On April 23, Belarus suspended exports of light oil products to Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries due to poor quality oil supplied to its refineries. Poland also refused to accept Russian crude delivered via the Druzhba pipeline. On April 29, the Russian oil, which complies with the technical regulations, reached the Unecha line operation dispatcher station of the Druzhba pipeline, near the border with Belarus.
