Minsk stops exports of light oil products citing bad Russian oil

MINSK, Apr 23 (PRIME) -- Belarus has suspended exports of light oil products to Poland, Ukraine, and Baltic states over the poor quality of oil delivered from Russia, Sergei Grib, deputy CEO for commercial affairs at Belarusian Oil Company, told reporters on Tuesday.

“Supplies of light oil products, gasolines and diesel fuel to Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Poland were suspended…Currently, (contract obligations) are suspended until the issue with the Russian oil is solved,” he said.

Deputy CEO of Belarusian state oil and petrochemical holding Belneftekhim Vladimir Sizov said on April 21 that the company had temporarily reduced exports of oil products from Belarus because of a rapid worsening of the quality of oil it receives from Russia. On Monday, the Mozyr oil refinery in Belarus blamed poor-quality Russian oil for failure of its equipment.

Oleg Borisenko, CEO of Gomeltransneft Druzhba, said on April 21 that Belarus received about 700,000 tonnes of oil from Russia with excessive content of organochlorine compounds in the past three days, and that estimates of Belarusian authorities expected refineries to start receiving high-quality oil no earlier than in eight to 10 days.

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