Russia has no plans to cut oil supplies to Belarus from Jan. 1 despite failing to agree terms of 2010 deliveries, Reuters quoted a Russian government source as saying today, adding that talks would resume in early January. The comment will be seen as a relief in Germany and Poland, which experienced cuts in Russian crude oil supplies in January 2007 along a major pipeline running via Belarus because of a similar dispute between Moscow and Minsk. "The talks will be continued. The Russian delegation made a series of proposals which correspond to market conditions and the ball is in the Belarussian delegation"s court," the source said, on condition of anonymity. Asked whether oil supplies to Belarus would be cut, he said: "Everything will continue as before. Nothing will be stopped." Druzhba, one of the world"s biggest pipelines by length and capacity, supplies major refiners in Germany covering some 15 percent of the country"s oil needs, while Poland relies on Druzhba for more than three-quarters of its consumption. Belarus also gets some 400,000 barrels per day from Russia via Druzhba to process at its two refineries, and exports most refined products to the West while consuming a much smaller portion domestically. On Thursday, Russian news agencies cited an unnamed source in the Russian delegation as saying talks had failed after the Belarussian delegation had insisted that Russia supply duty-free oil not only for those volumes consumed domestically in Belarus, but for all Russian crude supplied to the country. "The Belarussian side is de facto sticking to absolutely groundless demands that Russia must continue subsidising its economy," Interfax and RIA Novosti agencies quoted the source as saying. Russia and Belarus had plans to create a union state with one currency and customs rules but the project never materialised as relations between the two states chilled. For a factbox on Druzhba see .
