OREANDA-NEWS. April 22, 2009. Belarusian Oil Company (BelOil) will export petroleum products using general licences. The move is stipulated by the Council of Ministers’ Resolution No 474, BelOil Director General Vladimir Zubkov said, reported the Official website government.by.

He noted that earlier Belarusian petroleum products had been exported by oil refineries, which had general licences. As now petroleum export is consolidated by the Belarusian Oil Company, the company needs a general licence. The government resolution regulates the matter in a legal way.

The Belarusian Trade Ministry will handle the issuance of general licences for petroleum product export to the Belarusian Oil Company. Vladimir Zubkov said the company has prepared and sent the documents required for getting licences, which will cover the entire range of main petroleum products.

BelOil consolidated the export of Belarusian petroleum products back in 2008 but the exports were done using one-time licences. “Every contract needed a licence. As the number of contracts is very large and our exports use world quotations, the promptness of supplies suffers,” noted Vladimir Zubkov. The general licence will reduce the time between the signing of the contract and the shipment of the goods by an oil refinery.

Every month the company exports up to 500,000 tonnes of petroleum products mainly to North Western Europe (up to 80%) as well as Ukraine and Poland.

According to the Director General, the demand for petroleum products is strong on the international market. While the situation changes fast, the company works hard to stay on the market. Prices for petroleum products have gone down but so have prices for crude oil. Belarus’ export accounts for around 0.15% of the global petroleum products trade, this is why it is less prone to the crisis. The company manages to hold onto market outlets and even increases supplies.

The Belarusian Oil Company was registered in the Republic of Belarus on May 17, 2007. The shareholders are Belorusneft, OAO Naftan, Mozyr Oil Refinery, and the Belarusian Oil Trading House. The Belarusian Oil Company was founded following the President’s instruction to optimise oil purchases and the export of petroleum products. The Belarusian Oil Company is supposed to specialise in bulk purchases of oil, oil processing at Belarusian oil refineries and exporting petroleum products. The Belarusian Oil Company held the first trading session in petroleum products using Belneftekhim’s e-trade system on June 29.