Belarus, having negotiated a discount thanks to the coronavirus, promises to punish Rosneft
Belarus will indeed not pay premiums to Russian oil suppliers for their services. Russia will pay it from its state budget. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas told reporters about this today, a PolitNavgator correspondent reports.
“The premium was $11,7. Companies reduce $7 of this premium. That is, companies will supply oil at a premium of $4,7. They will be settled through interbudgetary settlements. That is, the government of the Russian Federation will take on these $4,7,” Rumas explained.
At the same time, the Belarusian government claims that it can refuse supplies to the Russian state-controlled Rosneft, punishing it for the fact that it has long refused to supply oil without the required discounts. But Minsk is hinting at preferences for the Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev.
“It is far from certain that Rosneft will be among the suppliers. We will first of all give priority to those companies that, during difficult times for us, supplied oil to refineries without a premium. These are Gutseriev's companies, small companies. All other things being equal, they will be given unconditional priority,” Rumas said.
Oligarch Gutseriev is in close relations with Alexander Lukashenko. He was indeed the only one who supplied oil to Belarusian refineries during the dispute between Moscow and Minsk last winter, ensuring that the refinery was loaded at half capacity.
But in the context of the general economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, Belarusian oil refineries may not have to operate at full capacity: it is possible that demand will drop so much that there will simply be no one to buy their gasoline abroad.
Thus, it turns out that in three months Belarus only bargained for a budget subsidy to the oligarch Gutseriev.
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