Belarus hikes tariff on Russian oil transit by 6.6%
The Belarusian Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) has decided to hike the tariff on the transit of Russian oil through the country by 6.6%, the department announced on its website.
The tariff increase is calculated according to a special formula. “The tariff hike amount has been determined… as the average annual consumer price index established by parameters of Russia’s predicted socio-economic growth in 2020, amounting to 3.6%, plus three percentage points,” the ministry explained.
The new tariff came into force on February 1.
The ministry explained that, during negotiations on January 30, Moscow and Minsk were unable to reach an agreement on the tariff increase, which resulted in the signing of a protocol of disagreement.
According to the protocol “On introducing changes to the agreement between the Russian government and the Belarusian government on the regulation of trade and economic cooperation in the area of oil and oil products exports, as of January 12, 2007”, if the parties disagree, the tariff will be determined by Belarusia’s MART according to the method for changing tariffs on services to transport oil through pipelines in the country’s territory. The method stipulates that the tariff increase is calculated as the average annual consumer price index established by the parameters of Russia’s predicted socio-economic growth, plus three percentage points.