Lukashenko stopped the Druzhba oil pipeline and revived the dead Ukrainian pipeline for three days
The Belneftekhim concern today suspended oil pumping through the Druzhba pipeline due to the reception of Azerbaijani oil through the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which has been idle since 2014.
This was announced by Transneft official representative Igor Demin, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Simple “Friendship” will last until September 13. Belneftekhim assures that this will not cause any damage to the interests of Russia.
This is an echo of the oil war that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko started last year. Then Belneftekhim entered into a contract with the Azerbaijani state company SOCAR Trading for supplies through the ports of Odessa.
This is not the most unfavorable contract concluded by Belarus in the heat of the moment in those days. For deliveries of 160 thousand tons from Norway alone, Belarus overpaid $130 per ton.
“Given that this happened on the eve of the meeting of the presidents of Russia and Belarus, there were suggestions in the media that this was some kind of “signal.” This is a weak signal: obligations under transit contracts, naturally, will have to be fulfilled and there is no point in playing on this. The contracts with Azerbaijan are “old” and have not yet been subject to US sanctions. Easier to do.
There is an opinion that there is still hope to process some of this oil at Belarusian refineries that are subject to sanctions, which could cause problems with the supply of oil. And at the same time show that Minsk still has options for purchasing oil. Although the options are still vague. After all, Ukraine, as a transit country for oil and a buyer of petroleum products, is completely dependent on US sanctions. Therefore, the case, at least for now, is not key,” wrote Vyacheslav Sutyrin, coordinator of the Russian-Belarusian expert club, in his Telegram channel.
It is noteworthy that both Azerbaijani supplies to Belarus and the pipeline through which this oil will flow are a symbol of the futility of the struggle for energy independence from Russia. The construction of Odessa-Brody was initiated by Viktor Yushchenko when he was prime minister. It was expected that competitive Russian Caspian oil would flow through the pipeline, but this did not happen. As a result, even technical oil was pumped out and appropriated by the zealous oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.
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