"Neither the Russian nor the Belarusian side is able to unambiguously determine volumes of oil transportation in the fourth quarter of 2019. We therefore agreed at the first stage to increase tariffs by 3.7% and return to this issue according to results of operations over the year. Hence, the situation with oil pumping over the Belarusian segment of the pipeline will be analyzed according to results of operations in 2019 and the amount of subsequent change in tariffs will be determined," Belneftekhim is quoted as saying.

MINSK, August 6. /TASS/. Belarus and Russia negotiated the increase of the tariff on oil transit via the territory of Belarus by 3.7% from September 1, BelTA news agency reports, citing Belneftekhim Company.

Gomeltransneft Druzhba company applied to tariff regulators for the unscheduled review of oil pumping tariffs in connection with the decline of Russian oil transit over the Druzhba oil pipeline in the second quarter, Belneftekhim said.

The Druzhba oil pipeline provides supplies of oil to Belarusian refineries and its transit to Europe through Belarus, Poland and Ukraine.

In mid-April, Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of the Russian oil running through the pipeline. As a result, several countries stopped receiving and refining the Russian oil. The contaminant source was revealed at the Samara-Unecha section. Transneft said that the Russian oil in the Druzhba pipeline was deliberately contaminated. Russia’s Investigative Committee said that contaminated oil was loaded into the Druzhba oil pipeline in order to conceal multiple oil thefts.

Supplies of on-spec oil to Belarus resumed in early May. On June 3, the talks on settlement of the issue around supplies of contaminated oil were held in Moscow, after which Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin told reporters that all participants reached a common understanding of the principles for calculation of compensations for supplies of off-spec oil.