Transneft Accuses Belarus of Taking Oil Illegally :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus takes off Russian oil intended for Western Europe from trunk pipeline Druzhba illegally, Transneft head Semyon Vainshtok said on Monday. “Since January 6 the Belarusian side unilaterally, without any notice started to take off oil from Druzhba pipeline, which is intended only for transporting oil for Western Europe customers,” he said to journalists.

As said by Vainshtok, only within the recent 24 hours, 900 tons of oil have been stolen, despite of the measures taken by Transneft.

“79 thousand tons have been stolen since January 6,” he said.

“The Belarusian side is to return to the regime of complying with international norms and rules which exclude application of discriminatory steps against transit deliveries. Transit is a “sacred cow”, Mr Vainshtok underlined.

At the moment Belarus prevents normal functioning of the pipeline at its territory, thus halting transit deliveries, Transneft head said.

"Transneft is at this moment doing all it can to raise exports via alternative routes to its customers in Western Europe," Transneft head Semyon Vainshtok said.

Belarus has halted Russian oil supplies to Poland and Germany via Russian oil pipeline Druzhba overnight. Deputy economy minister of Poland Piotr Naimsky stated that the Polish side expects full explanation of the situation both from Belarusian operators responsible for oil piping and from Russian suppliers. As said by Polish deputy minister, deliveries halt is connected with a row between Russia and Belarus concerning export duties from one side and transportation costs from the other.

On January 3 Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhei Sidorski stated that Belarus imposes customs duty of $45 per ton on Russian oil crossing Belarus. On January 4 vice president of Transbeft Sergei Grigoryev said his company hadn’t received documents about imposing this duty from Minsk.