OREANDA-NEWS Russia and Belarus at the talks on Wednesday recorded zero indicative balances for the supply of dark oil products until the end of 2019. Thus, Russia will not supply dark oil products to Belarus until 2020.

Earlier Wednesday, the Ministry of energy reported that the head of the Ministry Alexander Novak took part in a meeting of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Igor Lyashenko. Following the talks, Novak and Lyashenko signed a Protocol on amendments to the intergovernmental agreement of 2007 on measures to regulate trade and economic cooperation in the export of oil and oil products. They agreed on indicative balances and protocols for oil products for November-December 2018 and for the whole 2019.

" There have been recorded zero indicative balances on the supply of dark oil products,".

Dark oil products are called all existing types of distillate oils and fuel oils, as well as vacuum gas oil, bitumen, tar, fuel, which is used for gas.

In August, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Belarus-1 that he did not understand the Russian side's reproaches that Belarusian companies buy dark oil products in Russia, process them in Belarus and then sell them on the foreign market. According to this information, this is not a new practice. D

Dark oil products, in his opinion, are wastes of oil refining, which are not sold in Russia and on processing of which Belarus "earns a penny". At the same time, Novak in September said that the Ministry of energy of the Russian Federation does not see economic expediency in duty-free supplies of oil products to Belarus.

 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi in late September said that two options have been developed to resolve issues with the "customs" of oil and the supply of dark oil products from Russia.

The intergovernmental agreement between the two countries clearly establishes only the volume of duty — free oil supplies from Russia to Belarus-24 million tons per year. Indicative balances of oil products supply are agreed annually until October 1.

Minsk leaves in its budget duties on the export of petroleum products derived from Russian oil. Since 2017, Belarus has also received the right to re-export 6 million tons of Russian oil-also with the transfer of duties to its budget. This mechanism is called " double custom ".