Belarusian refineries can start exporting oil products through the north-western terminals of Russia, stopping supplies to the port of Klaipeda (Lithuania). According to the Ministry of Energy of Belarus, the governments of the two countries are currently considering such a possibility.
According to shipping agents, the Belarusian Oil Company shipped at least 671.71 thousand tons of gasoline and fuel oil from Klaipeda in January-August, while in the same period in 2019 - 628.5 thousand tons.
Market participants report that oil products of Belarusian producers can be exported through Vysotsk and Ust-Luga (both in the Leningrad region) in case of agreement. Belarusian gasoline has already been delivered abroad through Ust-Luga in test mode. Thus, in January 2018, Vitol shipped a tanker consignment of this product in the volume of about 37 thousand tons from the Portenergo terminal.
However, according to information from market participants, the profitability of deliveries of Belarusian goods through Russian terminals was then about $ 10 per tonne lower than shipments through the ports of the Baltic countries, despite a 50% discount by Russian Railways (RZD) to tariffs for transportation of oil products from Belarus to the port stations of the October Railway, operating until the end of 2025. In this regard, the "Belarusian Oil Company" made a decision to stop exporting through Ust-Luga, according to traders. Russian Railways does not officially speak about the possibility of providing new discounts for the transportation of Belarusian oil products through Russian ports.
In addition to the Lukoil terminal in Vysotsk and the Ust-Luga Oil and Portenergo transshipment complexes in Ust-Luga, the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal (PNT) can potentially accept additional volumes. Last year, all of them were significantly loaded, according to market participants and the terminals themselves. The volume of transshipment of light and dark oil products through Ust-Luga Oil in 2019 amounted to 28.3 million tons with a capacity of 30 million tons per year, through Portenergo - about 3 million tons, which is comparable to the design capacity of the terminal, through PNT - about 8 million tons (about 10 million tons per year) and through RPK-Vysotsk Lukoil-II - 11.5 million tons (16 million tons per year). Representatives of the terminals are not yet ready to officially discuss the possibility of accepting new cargo and providing discounts for transshipment, stressing that much depends on "a specific product, volume and rhythm of supplies."
