OSW: Cooperation on energy between Minsk and Kyiv is element of broader strategy

Belarus has signed agreement with Ukrainian authorities on oil deliveries via Odessa – Brody pipeline in order to get better conditions for Russian oil.

It has been stated in a review of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW, Warsaw), UNIAN reports.

“It appears that this cooperation on energy between Minsk and Kyiv is an element of a broader strategy on oil supply being conducted by the Belarusian government, which is operating in a manner somewhat less than fully explicit and transparent,” experts note.

However, according to experts, the Belarusian authorities can increase transporting Azerbaijani oil through Ukraine, which is likely to be supplied instead of Venezuelan oil.

“The agreement of 17 January was concluded between the Belarusian Crude Oil Company and Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta for two years, with the option to renew. It enables the permanent transit of a guaranteed minimum level of 4 million tonnes of oil per year; in earlier agreements the annual transmission had been set at between 5 and 9 million tonnes. Everything indicates that this will mainly consist of petroleum from Azerbaijan, swapped for the Venezuelan oil,” analysts underline.

As informed by UNIAN, on 17 January, a Belarusian-Ukrainian agreement was signed in Kiev on the transit of crude oil via the Odessa-Brody pipeline to the Belarusian refinery in Mazyr. The agreement enables the permanent transit of a guaranteed minimum level of 4 million tonnes of oil per year and has been signed for 2 years.