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Belarus may get access to Russia's oil fields if it makes adequate offer, ambassador says

Belarus may get access to Russia's oil fields if it makes an adequate offer, Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Surikov told reporters in Minsk on December 19.

"We have never objected to Belarus producing oil as the sole shareholder or founder of a company or having ownership of some [oil] field," he said.

To this end a Belarusian company should take part in a bidding contest like all foreign companies do, the ambassador warned. "And it would also have to pay appropriate fees, they are fairly high and estimated at several dollars per every ton of the oil that it would produce in the future," Mr. Surikov said, adding that "Belarusian companies, namely Belarusnafta, probably don't have such money."

Mr. Surikov suggested that Belarus could also get access to Russia's oil fields in exchange for a stake in its oil refineries.

"These issues should be solved. Not a single country in the world, including Belarus, gives away its deposits," he said. //BelaPAN