On February 19, an intergovernmental agreement on handling Belarussian oil products via Russian ports was signed in Moscow by RF Transport Minister Vitaly Saveliev and Belarussian Minister of transport and communications Alexey Avramenko.
The documents provides for supplying Belarus-produced fuel oil, petrol, and gas oil on the take-or-pay basis until 2023 with an option to prolong the agreement automatically.
According to V.Saveliev, Russia’s ports can handle 9.8 mn tons of Belarussian oil products during three years. This year, some 3.5 mn tons is expected to be shipped. The target for 2022 is 3.2 mn tons, and that for 2021 is 3.1 mn tons. But the actual figures can be larger, the Minister noted.
In future, the parties intend to reach similar agreements on other commodities. V.Saveliev named potash as an example. Belarus exports more than 10 mn tons of this product annually, he said.
Other commodities that can become subject of such agreements are timber and logs and machinery.