Belarus does not expect supply of petroleum products to Ukraine to reduce next year despite the imposition of a ban on export of Russian petroleum products to Belarus. The state-owned Belneftekhim concern’s head Andrei Rybakov announced this, the enkorr publication reports, citing the Reuters news agency.
According to Rybakov, this restriction will not affect the supply of petroleum products from Belarus to Ukraine.
"Supply problems are definitely not expected. The volumes will remain the same as this year, with a little plus or minus," Rybakov said. “We have a certain share of the Ukrainian market, and we are thinking of preserving it".
As reported, Russia is imposing a ban on export of light and crude petroleum products, as well as on LPG, to Belarus on November 1, 2018. According to a protocol to the relevant intergovernmental agreement, the ban will be in force until the end of 2019.
In summer 2018, the Russian government expressed dissatisfaction at the fact that part of the petroleum products that are exported from Russia to Belarus within the framework of the Customs Union without payment of customs duties was being re-exported to third countries, with proceeds from export duties on them going into the Belarusian state budget. It was particularly dissatisfied with the re-export of more than 1.3 million tons of fuel oil through Belarus in the first seven months of 2018.
LPG has been supplied from Belarus to Ukraine not only from Belarussian factories, but also from a number of transshipment terminals that process Russian LPG, since 2017. In the first nine months of this year, 158,400 tons of LPG was delivered to Ukraine from these terminals (according to data from the A-95 consulting group). This represents 16% of the total volume of Ukraine’s gas imports or 12% of the overall gas balance on the market during this period.
According to Reuters, imports of Russian LPG into Belarus totaled 574,000 tons in the period of January-July 2018.
In addition to LPG, diesel fuel is exported to Ukraine from Belarus under the TDE brand name. However, it is essentially Russian diesel fuel re-exported through Belarus. In the first nine months of 2018, 56,000 tons of such fuel was delivered to Ukraine (just over 1% of the Ukrainian market).
