Companies: Belarusians’ decision not to import oil through Lithuania will not affect cargo flow

Data released by Belneftechim, the state concern that coordinates the activities of the Belarusian oil industry, shows that oil will not be imported through the port of Klaipeda in October, BNS announced on Thursday.

Mantas Dubauskas, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai Communications Director, assures that imports represented a very small part of the freight and, in general, so far “there are no deviations or fluctuations”, he relies on the freight data for September.

“There have not been large volumes of oil shipments and, until now, it is difficult to say if there is something conscious here or just a routine decision. The indicators for September show that cargo progressed as expected, at a similar level to previous months, ”says M. Dubauskas.

Orinta Barkauskaitė, Head of Communications of Klaipėdos Nafta (KN), explains that the company does not have any commercial agreement with Belneftechim – it cooperates with the BNK group company.

“KN cooperates with BNK since 2016. and loads the products from Mozyr and Novopolotsk refineries: fuel oil, gasoline, diesel. KN also provides crude oil transshipment services to this partner. Traditionally, when working with Belarusian customers, the Most of the services consist of petroleum product export services provided to clients through the infrastructure in Klaipeda; the import of petroleum products is a more isolated case than our usual activity. Until this year, Belarusian clients imported petroleum through from Klaipeda only once in 2017, ”says O. Barkauskaitė.

It ensures that the loading processes in our terminals are currently developing normally, in accordance with mutual contractual obligations.

In January-August of this year, the NC received 1.9 percent compared to the same period last year. Less income.

“This was mainly due to the uncertainty in the markets throughout the year, to which is added the impact of COVID-19 in the economies, which reduced the demand for petroleum derivatives, as well as the low refining margins unfavorable for oil refineries this year. Customers continue to strive to remain profitable, leading to increased demand for petroleum product storage services, but negatively impacting petroleum product handling volumes. Despite the circumstances unfavorable, the CN for eight months managed to secure preliminary operating income from oil terminals similar to the corresponding period a year ago, “he said in a comment.

In January-August, around 744 thousand tons were handled in the port of Klaipeda. tons of oil bound for Belarus (nine tankers) transported to it by rail. Earlier, Belneftechim announced that oil refining in Belarus will fall to 16-16.5 million this year. 18 million tons. tons last year, BNS wrote.