OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2010. President Alexander Lukashenko met with Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky to receive his report. The Prime Minister informed the Head of State that Belarus’ oil refineries reported profits in the first quarter of 2010.

"We agreed that at the end of the first quarter you would report on the situation in the oil refining and petro-chemical industry in connection with the changing of the terms of and price for the delivery of Russian oil to our companies. The first quarter has ended; I would like to hear what our situation is. I gather you have already made an analysis," said the Head of State to the Prime Minister.

"Also, I would like to check on the progress in the project with Venezuela. To my knowledge, the tanker has been loaded and is already on its way to the destination point. What is on the debit and credit sides for us here, what are our prospects, how are my earlier orders being fulfilled, the ones I gave not only to the Government but also to other officials to examine the opportunities for importing oil from other states using routes convenient for us?" said the President.

According to Premier Sergei Sidorsky, the Government has been following the orders given by the Head of State in late 2009 in the course of oil negotiations with Russia, namely that profitability and volume of oil processing in 2010 should not be below the 2009 figures.

"It is very important for the 2010 budget. Therefore the Government follows your orders to utilize Belarusian oil refineries to their full capacity," said the Prime Minister.

"We have processed the amount of oil we planned to import in the first quarter of the year. We have processed 3.6 million tonnes of oil, which is much less than we did last year, but, in general, the oil refineries have managed to make profit all the same due to advanced technologies and a high rate of oil processing. We have been using our products of oil processing (diesel fuel and petroleum) for meeting the demands of the national economy and above all the sowing campaign," said the Prime Minister.

At the same time there is still a range of unsolved issues with the Russian Federation (although they were discussed at the March meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Belarus-Russia Union State). The application of export duties on oil products used as chemical raw materials has hampered and cases of some product items completely stopped the deliveries of these oil products to Belarus’ oil refineries.

This issue has not been resolved so far. Belarus has not been receiving this type of oil products from Russia for the last three months.

There are regulations in place that govern the application of duties with regard to oil, and there is a protocol that stipulates the terms of the agreements regulating the duty-free delivery of oil products. "But Russia insists that this issue be left off the agenda of the negotiations. The Belarusian Government believes it would be wrong to do so, and we are now taking all measures to address this negotiation point," said the Prime Minister.

As for diversification of oil imports, the Prime Minister said the Government has been working on this issue non-stop. There are plans to import oil from Venezuela. Eighty thousand tonnes of oil are already on their way to Belarus. This oil will reach Belarus’ refineries by May; it will be then processed and exported.

The President was also updated on the country’s economic performance in the first quarter of 2010. The Government chose a strategy for ensuring gradual GDP growth on a monthly basis. The economic performance in January-March 2010 suggests the country is reaching the pre-crisis rate of economic growth.

The GDP growth in January-March 2010 was 4 per cent, 0.5 per cent points above the January-February figures. The increase has come due to better performance of the manufacturing industry, expansion of trade, including consumer co-operation, and increased rate of housing construction.