Moscow increases the oil transportation fees it pays to Belarus by 10% from February
Moscow will increase the transportation fees it pays to Belarus to pump oil to Europe via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline by 10.2%, starting in February.
Transneft, which monopolizes Russian oil pipelines, agreed on the increase with Belarus, which initially hoped the increase would be 14.5%.
Russian oil is pumped through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, countries whose refineries will face a rise in prices due to increased transportation fees.
As for the northern branch, it carries oil from Kazakhstan to Germany.
The European Union imposed a ban on the import of crude oil and petroleum products transported by sea from Russia against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine, but this ban doesn’t apply to shipments sent through the Druzhba pipeline.
Transneft head Nikolai Tokarev said on Wednesday that the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which Moscow considers unfriendly countries due to their support for sanctions on Russia, had submitted requests to the European Union to extend their exemption from the Russian oil import ban.
