[TommyJefferson]

post deleted. I didn't RTFA closely.

[shakespear1]

I suspect Belarus has a hard time swallowing the increased price of gas they will need to pay. They do not have a booming economy

[thor]

Who told us the Cold War is over. It's friggin' starting I'll tell ya.

Ugly, it will be very, very ugly.

[frankthetank]

Hasn't the US been importing oil from Europe, or is that refined products like gasoline? I wonder how this will effect oil supply here in the states (or maybe it wont?).

[Cobra_Strike]

Who told us the Cold War is over. It's friggin' starting I'll tell ya.

Ugly, it will be very, very ugly.

Its going to be a hell of a cold war...

[KevO]

80 days with this warm weather. 10 if it actually goes cold.
what's the weather forecast?

And it's Russia that's cut supplies not Belarus.

Headline news here in the UK

[mekrob]

Hasn't the US been importing oil from Europe, or is that refined products like gasoline? I wonder how this will effect oil supply here in the states (or maybe it wont?).

We import from England, not mainland Europe. Those imports are decreasing as England's production continues its decreasing.

[lateStarter]

80 days with this warm weather. 10 if it actually goes cold.
what's the weather forecast?

And it's Russia that's cut supplies not Belarus.

Headline news here in the UK

Yes, you are correct. Russia turned off the pipe because Belarus was supposedly helping themselves to the oil as payment for the newly imposed transit fee.

I'm not sure what weather has to do with how long the oil reserves would last in Poland. Most Poles don't burn heating oil. It is too expensive. Maybe you were thinking NG?

[DantesPeak]

Yes, this is a new 'cold' war. The latest reports from Russia and Belarus seem to indicate that positions are hardening; Russia says it will divert as much oil as possible through other pipelines to Western Europe.

January 8, 2007

Kosachyov: Suspension Of Russian Oil Transit Via Belarus 'Anti-market Barbarity'

MOSCOW. Jan 8 (Interfax) - The Belarussian authorities' measures hampering the transit of Russian oil intended for European consumers is an instance of "anti-market barbarity", State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov told Ekho Moskvy radio. "These voluntaristic decisions taken by the Belarussian leadership reflect the actual situation in Belarus today," he said. "A trade war will become unavoidable if Belarus continues doing what it has been doing in the past few days," Kosachyov said. "In this situation, Russia has other means to prevent illegal oil tapping from the Druzhba pipeline," he added. Russian and Belarussian members of parliament are planning to work together to control the situation with the Druzhba pipeline, he said. "I think that we will contact our Belarussian partners in the near future and discuss joint steps we can take to exercise parliamentary control over the activities of business structures to stop them from ruining the fragile balance that exists at the political level today by their specific business interests," Kosachyov said.

[Moscow Interfax in English]

January 8, 2007
Belarus Press 8 Jan 07

BelGazeta, 8 January 1. The Belarusian government had nothing else left to do but to accept Gazprom's price of 100 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. of gas in the last minutes of 2006, journalist Syarhey Zhbanaw writes. The Belarusian cabinet had to sign a gas deal with Gazprom, albeit it was described as disadvantageous by government officials, in order to resume talks on the abolition of export duties on Russian oil supplies to Belarus, the author adds. He notes that Belarus's decision to slap a duty on Russian oil transit will hardly prove its efficiency because the decision was adopted without consultations with Russia . Moreover, this decision is "unprecedented" in the world practice, and Belarus does not have much chances to sue Russia in court over failure to pay the transit duty, the author adds. One should keep in mind that the party whose interests were affected by such decisions may start applying harsh retaliatory measures, Zhbanaw warns.

[Caversham BBC Monitoring in English]

January 8, 2007
Ukraine Expects Increase In Russian Oil Transit To 12 M Tonnes

KIEV, January 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine expects Russia to increase the transit of its oil through the country, regardless of the Belarusian situation, from nine to twelve million tonnes a year. "Negotiations are underway on the possibility of increasing transit to 12 million tonnes a year, with no linkage to the Belarusian situation," an adviser to the Ukrtransneft board chairman, Alexander Dikusarov, told the UNIAN news agency, following the halt to Russian oil supplies by the Druzhba oil pipeline to Poland and Germany through Belarus. Dikusarov did not rule out that the volume of oil transit through Ukraine might change because of the termination of oil supplies via Belarus. "If there is a surplus of Russian oil, I think we can expect an increase in transit," the adviser said. He believes that the suspension of oil transit through Belarus is temporary. On December 26, Ukrtransneft, the Russian company Transneft, and the international company TNK-BP signed an additional agreement to the November 16, 2004 treaty on the transit of no less than nine million tonnes of oil a year by the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline towards Mozyr-Brody-Yuzhny oil terminal until 2010. The new route is an alternative to the Samotlor-Novorossiisk route, which used to carry the bulk of Russian oil. The new route is less costly by 0.05 U.S. dollars per 1,000 tonnes for 100 kilometres. The integrated system of oil pipelines Druzhba is the biggest in the world. It was built in Soviet times to transport Siberian oil to Eastern and Western Europe. Its is about 5,200 kilometres long and runs from Almetyevsk to Mozye, via Samara and Bryansk, and then splits into two sections: northern (through Belarus, Poland, and Germany) and southern (through Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary). The Russian section of the pipeline is operated by Transneft, the Slovak section by Transpetrol and the Ukraine section by Ukrtransneft.

[Moscow ITAR-TASS in English]

[DantesPeak]

Southern route of Russian oil pipeline also severely affected:

MOL, Hungary's oil and gas company, said Monday that the crude oil shipments through the pipeline to Hungary have decreased and according to information from MOL's partners, crude oil shipments have stopped altogether coming to Ukraine from Belarus. Transpetrol, which operates the pipeline's stretch in Slovakia, said in a statement that oil shipments stopped at about 8 p.m. (1900GMT).

The Czech Industry and Trade Ministry said it expected supplies of Russian oil via Belarus to stop later Monday.

Natalia Leshchenko, an analyst with Global Insight, said that Belarus had nothing to lose by cutting off Russian oil exports because its authoritarian leadership was already treated as a pariah in the West.

"Given the urgency of the matter, the dispute is likely to be resolved soon, and most likely at the expense of Russia," she said in an e-mailed comment. "Transneft and the Russian government are looking to face financial losses and damaged reputation, whereas the outcast status of Belarus in Europe gives it the benefit of invulnerability, which its government uses in full."

Chron/AP

[CarnbY]

If you are a person holding US dollars and considering Euros, would you quickly move your money to Euros with the EU apparently becoming a boy toy for the Russia bear? If the Russias can play mind games like this thread with such a huge chunk of Europes energy supply (90 % which is imported) how will they survive if China gets more of the Russian supply? This is a big deal for the Europeans.

56 % Europe energy is imported.
Oil is still fungible . Nat gas is not . That meas price of oil increases for everyone not just Europe.
Finally Belarus NOT Russia closed the pipeline.

Finally if you have dollars sell them at once and buy gold not euro.That is the best imho.Fiat money sucks.

When you are talking about Europe, do you mean the EU, or Europe in the traditional sense, which would include Norway...?

[Keith_McClary]

Belarus' Negotiations on Venezuelan Oil Supply via Lithuania Deadlocked
Strange, doesn't most oil go the other way across the Atlantic?

[dissident]

At least this shows that the transit countries are de facto blackmailers when it comes to gas or oil. All the yapping about Nord Stream bypassing Poland and Lithuania and assorted other leaches is absurd.

[bratticus]

Russia cuts electricity supply to Belarus, raising pressure on country to sell key industries
By Yuras Karmanau / The Associated Press / June 9, 2011

MINSK, Belarus — Russia halved its electricity supplies to Belarus on Thursday over back payments, ratcheting up the pressure on its crisis-crippled neighbour to sell lucrative economic assets.

The power cut hits Belarus as it suffers its worst financial turmoil since the 1991 Soviet collapse. The country recently devalued the national currency, causing panic buying of goods. But Russia has promised a bailout only on condition that Belarus privatize key industries, such as its network of natural gas pipelines.

Russia has traditionally been Belarus' main ally, but it phased out economic subsidies in recent years as it pushed for control of those strategic assets. Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has refused to sell, causing ties to grow increasingly strained.

Belarusian Energy Ministry spokeswoman Lyudmila Zenkovich said Thursday that Russia cut the electricity supplies because Belarus still owed $54 million for shipments taken earlier this year.

Imports of Russian electricity account for less than 10 per cent of Belarus' needs and Zenkovich said consumers won't be hurt by the move.

"this won't hurt a bit"

She said Belarus will try to quickly settle its debt despite a shortage of hard currency.

The current crisis was triggered by Lukashenko's decision to raise government wages by one-third as he campaigned for re-election in last December's vote. The pay hikes fueled inflation and raised demand for foreign currency, quickly draining scarce government reserves. The government last month was finally forced to cut the value of the national currency, the Belarusian ruble, almost in half against the dollar.

The spiraling crisis has threatened the authority of Lukashenko, who has ruled the 10-million nation with an iron hand for nearly 17 years, earning the nickname of "Europe's last dictator" in the West.

Independent experts say Belarus would quickly need at least $9 billion in loans to stabilize its finances. ...

[Serial_Worrier]

Another Communist basket-case. More vindication for capitalism!

[radon]

But this story is about electricity generated from natural gas and coal.

This is a story of phased out Russian energy subsidies. Just an arm-twisting contest between the politicians re the Belarus pipelines, energy and other assets. Once the dust settles the ordinary Belarusians may well finish up paying Russian level (cheap and subsidized) housing energy bills, as a result of a "closer integration" between the two countries. But at this point no one knows yet how it will develop.

Another Communist basket-case. More vindication for capitalism!

Yes, after Greece, Portugal, Egypt... you name it.

Anyway, Belarus has nothing to do with communism. State capitalism, probably.

[bratticus]

Belarusians live worse, but there will not be a social explosion this summer
RIA Novosti commentator Anna Kurskaya / June 10, 2011

Belarus owes Russia two months’ worth of payments for electricity. The company Inter RAO, the Russian exporter of electricity, has imposed restrictions on deliveries. And this is not the only trouble Minsk faces in its current economic crisis. Belarus is experiencing renewed expressions of popular discontent, and this time they are not devised by the opposition. Drivers are seen protesting. As increases in oil prices persist (fourth time this year) so do queues in gas stations. Prices for cigarettes have risen by 30-60% since June 8, but, in reality, they have entirely disappeared from the market. It is still impossible to purchase foreign currency in exchange offices.

... The June 7 “Stop Gasoline” protests, against soaring petrol prices, saw dozens of participants block the city’s main street by staging automobile breakdowns.

“Dozens of motorists effectively paralyzed traffic on the Independence Avenue” says Alexei Korolev, editor-in-chief of independent Belarusian newspaper Novaya Vremya. “The protest lasted over two hours and even drivers who were simply passing by joined it. Onlookers cheered the drivers. Small banknotes were flying around in a symbolic gesture to demonstrate that they have become paper wrappers, devoid of any real worth. Five participants have already been arrested and put on trial.”

... The organization of “Stop Petrol” took place largely through the internet,” Korolev says.

[bratticus]

Belarus Limits Cross-Border Car Travel and Individual Exports
By Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Editing by Balazs Penz / Bloomberg / June 11, 2011

The Belarus government banned individuals from taking basic consumer goods such as home appliances, foodstuffs and gasoline out of the country following a devaluation of the local currency.

People are also barred from leaving the country by car more than once every five days as of today, according to an e-mailed government statement.

The move aims “to stabilize the situation with domestic car fuel sales as well as to prevent illegal exports of commercial goods disguised as private items,” the government said in the statement. It will help to “ensure economic stability in the country.”

President Alexander Lukashenko has ordered a reduction in gasoline prices and warned his government against sharp price increases after more than 100 cars blocked the main street in the capital, Minsk, on June 7 in protest.

Belarus allowed an overnight 36-percent devaluation of its currency on May 23 and raised its refinancing rate to the highest in the world a week later. It has asked the IMF for another stabilization loan on top of a bailout during the credit crisis, and will borrow $3 billion from Russia and other former Soviet countries on condition it sells $7.5 billion of state assets.

The move aims “to stabilize the situation with domestic car fuel sales as well as to prevent illegal exports of commercial goods disguised as private items,” the government said in the statement. It will help to “ensure economic stability in the country.”

President Alexander Lukashenko has ordered a reduction in gasoline prices and warned his government against sharp price increases after more than 100 cars blocked the main street in the capital, Minsk, on June 7 in protest.

Regulating the price of gasoline down artificially is the quickest way to have no gasoline for sale.

Belarus allowed an overnight 36-percent devaluation of its currency on May 23 and raised its refinancing rate to the highest in the world a week later. It has asked the IMF for another stabilization loan on top of a bailout during the credit crisis, and will borrow $3 billion from Russia and other former Soviet countries on condition it sells $7.5 billion of state assets.

The sale abroad by individuals of Belarus-produced cement, refrigerators, kitchen stoves, and detergents will be illegal as of tomorrow.

People were also banned from taking cereals and pasta abroad and were limited to taking 2 kilograms per person of meat, flour, sugar, cheese and some other foodstuffs. No more than two packs of Belarus-produced cigarettes per person will be allowed out of the country. ...

[bratticus]

Russia turns up the heat on Belarus power supply
IFandP Newsroom / June 10, 2011


Russia increased pressure on an increasingly fragile Belarus by cutting its power imports into the ex-Soviet republic by more than half as it tried to recover US$54m in unpaid bills.

Russia’s electricity exporter Inter RAO said it would cut off all power by 19 June if the debt was not fully met, according to the local Belta news agency. ...