Moscow hasn't reached any agreement with Minsk on supplies of 23 million mt of Russian crude oil to Belarus in 2013, Russia's energy ministry said Friday in a statement, denying reports in the Belarus media earlier in the day.
"Information that an agreement has been reached on supplies of 23 million mt of Russian crude to the Republic of Belarus in 2013 is incorrect," the statement said.
Russia is ready to supply 18.5 million mt of crude oil to Belarus next year, the ministry said, reiterating earlier statements from national oil pipeline operator Transneft.
"In the first quarter of 2013, crude oil will be supplied [to Belarus] based on the volumes offered [for the whole year]," the statement said.
Earlier Friday, Belarus media reported the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, as saying a 23 million mt oil supply deal has been reached with Russia for 2013.
"We have agreed with Russian [partners] on supplies of 23 million mt of oil. We won't have any problems receiving the oil," Lukashenko was quoted as saying.
A crude oil supply deal between the two countries is expected to be signed by year-end, a spokeswoman for national Belneftekhim said Friday.
Earlier this week, Igor Katsal, deputy vice president of Transneft, said Russia was provisionally planning to ship 18.5 million mt of crude to Belarus in 2013 and receive 2 million mt of oil products in return, although it had yet to agree on final volumes.
The figure would include shipments of 4.62 million mt of crude in the first quarter of 2013, Katsal said at the time.
Belarus had been hoping that Russia would agree to ship 23 million mt in 2013, in return for 3 million mt of oil products.
Russia agreed to supply 21.5 million mt of crude to Belarus in 2012, in return for 5.8 million mt of oil products.
In the first nine months of the year, Russia delivered crude in line with the agreement, but only received 100,000 mt of oil products in return, well below agreed levels. That prompted analysts to speculate that Russia would be reluctant to agree to ship similar -- or increased -- volumes in 2013.
Russia initially threatened to cut supply volumes in the last quarter to as little as 4 million mt, but in early November the two sides agreed that Russia would supply around 4.9 million mt of crude in Q4, in return for 200,000 mt of gasoline.
Russia and Belarus signed a deal covering crude and oil product deliveries in 2012-15 last year.
