Union State Council of Ministers might pass energy budget at next session

The energy budget of Belarus and Russia might be passed at the next session of the Union State Council of Ministers, State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota told reporters after meeting with Belarusian government officials on 25 July, BelTA has learnt.

Grigory Rapota noted that the matter has two sides. The first one is formal, i.e. the adoption of the energy budget as such. The second one is de facto oil supplies. All arising issues are timely resolved; oil is supplied on the quarterly basis.

“As for the formal side of the matter, yesterday a decision was made that the matter will be settled by the next session of the Council of Ministers. At least, such an instruction was given and it was formalized by the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers. Russia voiced no objections,” Grigory Rapota said. He added that the date of the session of the Union State Council of Ministers will be formalized at the beginning of the autumn.

The session of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers was held in Moscow on 24 July. Belarus’ delegation was led by Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Rumas whom the Belarusian head of state authorized to act in the capacity of a Vice Premier in integration-related matters. The agenda of the session featured 12 points.

In the third quarter of 2013, Russia will supply 5.75 million tonnes of oil to Belarusian oil refineries, as much as in the second quarter. In the first quarter of 2013 Russia’s oil supplies were estimated at nearly 5.7 million tonnes.