MINSK, January 2 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus hopes Russia will abandon its plan to impose duties on crude oil supplies in exchange for 50% of the revenues Belarusian refineries receive from the re-export of derivatives to Europe, First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said Tuesday.
"Belarus is ready to share with Russia half of its profits from the export of refined oil products to encourage Russia to lift duties on crude [sold to Belarusian refining companies]," Semashko said, adding that such an arrangement could be made by mid-January.
Semashko said Belarus' refineries will not resume suspended deals with Russian suppliers until then and that they have enough stored crude to operate at 60%-65% their normal capacity for a few more weeks.
"We have proved Belarus is capable of compromise, and we hope the Russian side will pay [us] in kind," Semashko said.
In a last-minute deal Sunday, Belarus accepted Russia's new price of its natural gas exports for 2007, more than double the previous rate. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom had threatened to cut off deliveries as of January 1 if Minsk did not agree to pay $100 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas instead of $46.
Semashko said the increased price of gas imports will inevitably trigger energy price hikes for Belarus' industrial consumers. The price of natural gas will rise to $150-153 [per 1,000 cubic meters], 93%-98% up on the current $75.4, while the price of electricity will rise 54% and that of thermal power, by 55%.
Prices for households, however, will remain heavily subsidized in 2007, rising a mere $5-6 on the average, he said.
He said Belarus and Russia have agreed to set up a joint venture on the basis of Belarusian pipeline operator Beltransgaz by June 1 and that Gazprom will be paying $2,500 million in installments over the next four years for a 50% stake in the new company.
Belarus is the transit route for about 20% of Russian gas exports to Europe.
