Belarus sent commercial offers on oil imports to Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, as well as the Baltic countries. This was told by First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Krutoy following a meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to him, representatives of Belarus hold negotiations almost daily.

“All possible countries: Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic countries, and Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan. We are now dealing with this issue, ”quotes Cool BelTA.

The Deputy Prime Minister also said that the authorities of the country consider it economically inexpedient to pay the premium to Russian oil companies in the previous volumes.

“Today we have no new nuances of negotiations with the Russian Federation. We still adhere to the position that in the context of the implementation of the tax maneuver and the annual increase in the cost of oil for Belarus due to the reduction of customs duty, paying a premium to Russian oil companies in the amount that we agreed to do in 2011 does not make sense today ” , - he said.

Currently, Belarus buys only Russian oil. Amid oil and gas disputes, President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly spoken about the possibility of finding alternative sources of supply if Moscow and Minsk cannot resolve the issue of energy prices. In particular, the Belarusian leader said that the country could switch to a reverse system with Poland. In this case, of the three pipes of the Druzhba oil pipeline, Russia will have only one left.

Director of the Energy Development Fund Sergei Pikin, in a conversation with RT, expressed the opinion that the actions of Belarus are more like a PR campaign. In his opinion, the likelihood that Moscow and Minsk will come to some kind of agreement before the end of January is quite high.

“The question is that any delivery from any region of the world will still be carried out through the same pipes. And I do not think that it will be cheaper than Russia offers. We have the whole dispute - the customs duty, which neutralizes the economic effect for the refineries of Belarus. Therefore, such actions of Minsk are rather a kind of PR, ”he said.

According to a source at RIA Novosti, Moscow and Minsk cannot agree on contracts because of the unwillingness of Belarusian refineries to pay the market price. He noted that deliveries from Russia on the terms of 2019 will be cheaper than other deliveries from the world market by at least $ 1.6 billion per year with an annual volume of 24 million tons.

Alexander Lukashenko, in turn, said that Russia offers Belarus to buy oil at prices that exceed world prices.

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On December 30 and 31 telephone conversations of Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place. Both leaders instructed to conclude contracts for the supply of Russian oil to Belarus to ensure the smooth operation of two Belarusian refineries, but this could not be done. The Belarusian side said that it had ceased to receive raw materials, the load of oil refineries in the country was reduced to the technologically permissible minimum level. On January 4, one-time contracts for the supply of raw materials to Belarusian refineries were resumed.

Later, the deputy head of the FAS Anatoly Golomolzin said that the antitrust authorities of Russia and Belarus will make a final decision on oil transit tariffs by the end of January.

As the representative of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of Belarus noted, the Russian side had questions on settlements, so it was decided to clarify them at a meeting at the specialist level.

The leading expert of the National Energy Security Fund Igor Yushkov, in a conversation with RT, admitted that Belarus could receive oil from Poland, Ukraine or the Baltic countries, however, all supply options would be more expensive than Russian oil supplies.

“The first route that begs for is transit through Ukraine, but for this it is necessary to fill the pipeline itself, and now it is empty there. It will be necessary to buy about a million tons of oil in order to fill it first, and then it will be necessary to buy oil, which will be supplied to the refinery, ”he explained.

The expert added that this could be beneficial for Russia.

“In the early 2000s, they bought oil in Venezuela and then tested all the options (alternative supplies. - RT ) ... Yes, it is possible to purchase from alternative sources. For Russia, it is even beneficial, because the volumes that we do not supply to Belarus, we supply to third countries, the oil market is for this. At the same time, the Russian budget will also receive export duties, ”said Yushkov.