Belarus buys first batch of Iranian crude oil - reports
Belarus has bought the first batch of Iranian crude oil, reports Reuters quoting four unnamed sources. The Belarusian company Belarusnafta has purchased via its daughter company in Poland 80 000 tons of crude oil (around 600 000 barrels) from the National Iranian Oil Company. The crude will be first shipped to the sea ports of Odessa, Ukraine or Ventspils, Latvia before reaching Belarus by railway.
Euroradio reported earlier that in October 2016 Aliksandr Lukashenka said during the State of the Nation address that Belarus was in talks with Iran over crude oil supplies. Iran had allegedly cut the price for Belarus, according to Lukashenka in October. The statement was made amid the cuts of oil supplies to Belarus by Russia. Back then, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti quickly asked analysts for comments and they said crude oil supplies from Iran would not make sense for Belarus economically.
