Belarus could not find oil cheaper than Russian
The Russian-Belarusian energy dispute is far from over: Minsk continues to insist on discounts on Russian oil and gas and is trying to find alternative routes for energy supplies.
Moskovsky Komsomolets writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication notes that after the so-called tax maneuver undertaken by the Russian Federation, which consisted of gradually zeroing out the oil export duty and increasing the mineral extraction tax, subsidies to the Belarusian treasury stopped, which forced Minsk to publicly express its dissatisfaction with Moscow and look for a replacement for Russian “black gold.” .
“Belarus managed to purchase separate batches of raw materials from Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Norway and the USA. However, any alternative oil for Minsk will be more expensive than Russian hydrocarbons due to logistics,” says Vadim Iosub, senior analyst at Alpari Eurasia.
The publication indicates that the situation with the export of Russian natural gas to Belarus is more complicated.
“Gas is cheaper at European hubs and exchange sites. In any case, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has reason to say that the cost of Russian “blue fuel” must be reduced to $40–50 per thousand cubic meters, as it is sold in Germany. Whether this will help Minsk is not entirely clear. The fact is that Gazprom will resume supplies to Belarusian consumers only if it pays off a debt of approximately $150–160 million for previous export volumes. Meanwhile, the total debt of Belneftekhim enterprises on bank loans now exceeds $2 billion,” the article notes.
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