Belorusneft removed from control of Belneftekhim - Lukashenko's decree
MINSK. July 19 (Interfax) - Belarus' Belorusneft has been transferred from the jurisdiction of Belneftekhim Concern, which was earlier blacklisted by the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Belorusneft's removal from the control of Belneftekhim is stipulated under Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's Executive Order No. 275. The document has been officially published on the national legal database website.
Lukashenko has amended his Executive Order No. 576 On the Establishment of the State Production Association Belorusneft of September 14, 2006. In particular, Lukashenko removed the clause that "the production association is placed under the authority of Belarusian State Concern for Oil and Chemistry (Belneftekhim Concern)."
Lukashenko has also invalidated the subparagraph under which Belneftekhim head was empowered to appoint and dismiss a director general of Belorusneft by agreement with the president of Belarus.
As reported earlier, the U.S. sanctions, which were announced earlier against several Belarusian petrochemical companies and subsequently frozen, formally came into effect on June 3. Belneftekhim, Naftan, Grodno Azot, Grodno Khimvolokno, Lakokraska and Polotsk Steklovolokno, Belarusian Oil Trading House, and Belshina are back on the blacklist of the OFAC.
The U.S. Treasury said in a statement on April 19, 2021, that apart from transactions with blacklisted companies, the sanctions would apply to dealings with any entity in which blacklisted companies own 50% or more.