Russia’s Crude to Erode Taxes in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

As a result of the crude oil agreement with Russia, Belarus will have to ease the tax burden on refining in the country. Only this will allow to maintain positive efficiency of local refining and preserve attractiveness of working in Belarus for the oil companies of Russia.

Naftan and Mozyrsk refineries of Belarus submitted to the government yesterday the proposals aimed at easing tax burden, following the changes in terms of crude supplies to Belarus and the export of its petroleum, Interfax quoted Naftan Deputy General Director Nikolay Kolbasenko as saying.

The intergovernmental agreement on crude/petroleum export that Russia and Belarus sealed January 12 made inefficient the business of all players on the crude and petroleum market, said a source with one of the oil companies of Russia on condition of anonymity.

The reasons are the surge in crude prices attributed to the duty on its export from Russia ($53/ton) and the decline in attractiveness of petroleum export from Belarus once the export duties on this product leveled with the Russia’s ones (nearly doubled for super gasoline). The situation in Belarus is further aggravated by high petroleum excises.

In an effort to make refining attractive in Belarus, the government is going through the chances to curtail excises for petroleum sold on the domestic market, representatives of the Belarus’ Economic Ministry said.

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