Russia will supply 5.75 million tons of crude oil to Belarus in the second quarter of 2013, Aliya Simigullina, spokesperson for Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, told BelaPAN on Wednesday.
An agreement to this effect was reached by Mr. Dvorkovich and Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka in Moscow on Tuesday evening, she said.
The amount of crude to be exported to Belarus between April and June is specified in the minutes of the two-day talks between Messrs. Dvorkovich and Syamashka, Ms. Simigullina said. Belarus' expectation that Russia will supply it with 23 million tons of oil this year was taken into account, she said.
The oil supply deal for this year is expected to top the agenda of the talks that Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are scheduled to hold in St. Petersburg on March 15 within the framework of a session of the Supreme State Council of the Belarusian-Russian Union State.
In late December 2012, Belarus and Russia signed an agreement whereby Belarus will receive 5.75 million tons of crude oil between January and March.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced on December 21 that Russia had agreed to supply 23 million tons of crude oil to Belarus in 2013.
"We held talks with Russia and they offered 18.5 million tons while we wanted 23 million tons, but we and the Russians agreed on the supply of 23 millio tons of oil," Mr. Lukashenka said.
Russia was expected to export a total of 21.5 million tons of oil to Belarus in 2012. In exchange, Belarus made a commitment to supply Russia with 5.8 million tons of high-quality petroleum products last year, including 2.1 million tons of gasoline, 3.5 million tons of diesel fuel and 0.2 million tons of aviation kerosene. However, it reportedly supplied only 144,300 tons of petroleum products to Russia in the first eight months of the year.
