Belarus stopped exporting solvents on Oct 6 - Russian Energy Ministry
MOSCOW. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Belarus stopped exporting solvents on October 6, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Fyodorov told Interfax.
"In fact, Belarus has not been exporting solvents since October 6. The border is closed," he said.
"The balance of back supplies to Russia is not being fulfilled - that is a fact," Fyodorov said.
The Energy Ministry expects to see a substantial increase in petroleum product flows from Belarus to the Russian market next year, he said.
As per the energy balance between Russia and Belarus, Russia should deliver 21.5 million tonnes of crude oil to Belarus. In turn, Belarus should supply some 5.8 million tonnes of petroleum products to Russia.
However, at the end of this summer and beginning of the fall, disagreements emerged between the two countries. Russia believed that Belarus, which had boosted procurements of Russian oil, had started to export gasoline under the guise of solvents to European markets. There is no export duty on solvents within the Customs Union, whereas for gasoline the duty is 90% of the export duty for oil. This scheme has caused major losses for the Russian budget, which might reach $2 billion this year alone. According to Russia, Belarus has only delivered 100,000 petroleum products to its market since the beginning of 2012.
Russia has gone to the Customs Union with the request that the duties for gasoline and solvents be equalized. Besides that, Russia has been delivering much less crude oil to Belarus in the current (fourth) quarter. According to OJSC Transneft data, Russia will send 4 million tonnes of crude oil to Belarus in October-December, which is 1.3 million tonnes less than it sent in the previous quarter.
Russia is interested in getting Belarusian petroleum products because they will help boost the amount of turnover in Euro 3 and 4 fuel on the Russian market in the future.