Belarus limits export of petroleum products from Russia
Belarus will temporarily limit deliveries of petroleum products for export due to the quality of Russian oil, said Deputy Chairman of the Belneftekhim concern Vladimir Sizov after an operational meeting of personnel monitoring the supply of oil, BelTA reported.
It was explained that the need to limit exports comes from “the active risk of processing raw materials with degraded quality” and carrying out the planting season in Belarus. Sizov noted that deliveries will resume after the “the situation is rectified.”
On April 19, Belneftekhim announced that the quality of oil coming from Russia sharply deteriorated. In the Urals export mixture, the concentration of organochlorine compounds was “dozens of times” higher than the maximum allowable value. Refining oil of such quality could risk violating Belarusian oil refinery technological regimes.
The Russian company Transneft confirmed that the quality of the oil was not up to standard. The company promised that the problem will be fixed by the beginning of next week.
Moscow and Minsk are currently disputing whether or not there should be an increase in tariffs on the transit of Russian oil through the territory of Belarus. Due to the deteriorating environmental situation and the need to carry out repairs, Minsk wants to raise the tariff by 23 percent. Moscow claims Belarus has no grounds to do so.
On April 18, Russia decided to introduce new sanctions against Ukraine. The main measure was an almost complete ban on the export of Russian oil, oil products and coal. Experts said that Kiev can offset losses by relying on deliveries from Belarus.