Belarus is negotiating with Iran on cooperation in the oil sector. This statement was made on Friday by the chairman of the meeting of the Islamic Council of Iran, Ali Larijani, following his meeting with the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Larijani stressed that all aspects of the trade and economic relations were discussed. According to him, the Iranian side agrees with the assessment of Lukashenko, who said that the Belarusian-Iranian trade turnover could reach $1 billion.

During the oil and gas dispute between Russia and Belarus, which began in 2016, Alexander Lukashenko instructed the Belarusian Government to find an alternative to oil supplies from Russia. He later spoke of the purchases from such countries as Venezuela, Canada and Iran. At the same time, according to Lukashenko, Belarusian companies are ready to produce in these countries.

Now Russia and Belarus are arguing again. So, the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Alexander Novak on Monday said that the duty-free export of Russian oil products to Belarus was impractical, as the country itself provided its domestic market through the processing of Russian oil.

"Now we are discussing the issue of limiting the supply of petroleum products to Belarus. This balance is determined by the Ministry of Energy. We can talk about the volume of the deliveries from 100 to 300 thousand tons per year, but not about the current 2 million tons," - head of the Department of Tax and Customs Policy of the Finance Ministry Alexei Sazanov said later.

Head of the Belarusian concern Belneftekhim Andrei Rybakov said in response that the introduction of bans and restrictions on the supply of Russian oil products to Belarus would violate the basic principles of the treaty on the establishment of the EEU.

Source: Rusmininfo     l     KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Rusmininfo