Russia shakes off Minsk’s proposal to hike transit tariffs for oil

June 16, BPN. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov has said on the sidelines of an economic forum in St Petersburg that the government doesn’t like a suggested increase in tariffs on Russian pipeline oil flowing through Belarus.

“We must determine a fair and economically sound tariff,” he said, according to TASS.

Belarus’ state-owned oil transport company Gomeltransneft Druzhba proposed the 84-percent increase in transit tariffs in June.

Shulginov said this will be subject to future negotiations.

He said exports to Germany and Poland were high, and Moscow was monitoring the capacity of the pipeline system.

Minsk argued that the proposed tariffs were “competitive” and “lower” than those set by Ukrainian and Kazakh oil transport operators.