Minsk auction: why Belarus bought a batch of oil from Norway

Belarus purchased a consignment of Norwegian oil Johan Sverdrup in the amount of 80 thousand tons. The transaction was carried out by the Belarusian Oil Company (BNK), which is responsible for the export of Belarusian oil products. This was reported by Interfax with reference to the press service of Belneftekhim concern.

“A batch of Norwegian oil in the amount of 80 thousand tons was purchased for the Novopolotsk Oil Refinery“ Naftan ”, delivery through the port of Klaipeda on January 22,” the statement said.

Naftan receives oil from Russia and produces various types of fuel, lubricating oils and bitumen, aromatic hydrocarbons and petrochemicals. According to the company’s website, over 60% of products are currently being exported abroad.

On January 14, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Dmitry Krutoy said that Minsk had sent commercial proposals on oil imports to a number of states. According to him, BNK representatives are negotiating almost around the clock.

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

Earlier, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko repeatedly spoke about the possibility of searching for alternative sources of supply if Moscow and Minsk did not reach a consensus on the price of energy resources. As a source in RIA Novosti noted, the Belarusian side does not intend to pay the market value of oil, despite the fact that supplies will be cheaper than imports from other countries.

“This is a political decision”

According to Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, the deal concluded by the Belarusian side on the purchase of Norwegian oil can hardly be considered far-sighted and thought out, in particular, due to the transport of raw materials.

“The fact is that there is only one way to deliver oil from Klaipeda to Belarus - railway tanks, of course, it is more expensive than pipeline transport. Already for this simple logistic reason - the price will be higher than the other. It is supplied for the purpose of refining into petroleum products, which means that the price of raw materials for refining will increase ... Here, Belarusian experts and specialists already need to sit down with a pencil in their hands and calculate how much they will lose in revenue from the supply of this oil and how much they earn from the supply Russian, but at market prices. Therefore, the word “whim" on the part of Belarus probably arises here, but it seems to me that the situation will normalize over time, ”the source said.

In turn, the leading expert of the National Energy Security Fund Igor Yushkov expressed the opinion that the actions of Minsk are determined by political rather than economic considerations.

“It seems to me that this, of course, is a political decision. For Minsk, this has become a huge problem. They have been trying for a very long time to put pressure on Russia in order to obtain favorable conditions for the supply of oil. We are having a tax maneuver, and every year the price of oil for Belarusians is increasing, and they want to receive compensation from the Russian budget for higher oil prices - Minsk sees a switch to other sources of oil supply as a leverage, ”he said.

In his opinion, the Belarusian side has long talked about the "threat" of the transition to diversification of supplies and implemented it by agreement on one batch.

“Belarus had experience when they bought an oil tanker in Iran, but in the end he did not come to the republic, he stayed somewhere in Germany or Poland, was processed there, that is, the Belarusian company acted as a trader. Now, most likely, the tanker will indeed pass, and we will see a repeat of the history of 10 years ago, when Belarus purchased Venezuelan oil. That is, this whole story, we went through it. As the statistics for January come out, we will see how much Norwegian oil cost compared to Russian oil. And I’m sure that the story will be the same as 10 years ago, when the Venezuelan one was twice as expensive as Russian deliveries, it may not be twice, but Norwegian oil will be more expensive by 20-25 dollars per barrel. ” - stated Yushkov in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, we note that on Monday, January 20, Belarus and Russia reached an agreement on approaches and methods for compensating for dirty oil in the Druzhba highway. This became known after the meeting between and. about. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Kozak and Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Igor Lyashenko. In December 2019, the Belarusian ambassador to Moscow Vladimir Semashko announced that Minsk was counting on $ 70 million.

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Recall that in April 2019, Belarus announced a temporary suspension of oil imports from Russia along the Druzhba oil trunk pipeline due to its quality deterioration. Russian Transneft recognized the fact of supply of low-quality raw materials. In late June, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced the end of the oil supply crisis.