UPDATE: Belarus threatens to use Druzhba pipeline string for oil reverse

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MINSK, Feb 14 (PRIME) -- Belarus will use one of the Druzhba oil pipeline strings, through which Russian oil is transited to the West, for reverse deliveries of oil from the E.U. to receive 2 million tonnes of oil the state needs monthly, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

“We agreed in Sochi that the Russian government and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak personally will control the issue and help us to agree… I did not blackmail anyone, I just said that if we don’t get the necessary amount of oil from Russia… we will take it from the transit pipe,” he said.

“We pump the oil carefully… That is why if there are no full-scale shipments from Russia in February, we will get what we need to obtain the 2 million tonnes.”

News agency BelTA reported earlier citing Lukashenko that Belarus would continue to diversify oil supplies even if alternative crude is pricier than the Russian one.

“Belarus will continue to buy oil from other states even if it is pricier than Russian oil… The country will do so in order not to “stand on the knees every December 31,” he said.

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