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Lukashenko okays draft agreement on shipping Belarusian oil products via Russian sea ports

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MINSK, 16 February (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has approved as the basis for negotiations a draft Belarusian-Russian intergovernmental agreement on organizing cooperation in the area of transportation and transshipment of oil products from Belarus, which are supposed to be exported to third countries via Russian sea ports. The head of state signed the relevant decree on 16 February, BelTA has learned.

The Transport and Communications Ministry has been authorized to conduct negotiations on the draft agreement and sign the document if the sides come to terms within limits of the approved draft.

BelTA reported earlier that the signing of the agreement had been rescheduled from 15 February to a later date due to the need to complete intrastate procedures. Apart from that, contracts with Russian operators of terminals in the sea ports and with the railway operator are not yet ready. These contracts are supposed to be signed together with the agreement.

The draft agreement provides for transshipping over 9.8 million tonnes of freight by Belarusian companies in Russian ports on the Baltic Sea in 2021-2023. Cargoes such as furnace oil, gasoline, and lubricants will be transshipped. As per the agreement contracts will be signed in line with the take-or-pay principle. If the shipper wants to ship less than the specified volume, the sea terminal will be paid for the specified volume anyway.

The agreement will be valid till the end of 2023 and can be extended automatically.

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