Belarus and Russia have agreed on oil delivery only for the first half of 2014

11.5 million tons of oil will be delivered to Belarus in first half of 2014.

Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia’s deputy prime minister and Uladzimir Siamashka, Belarus’ first deputy prime minister, came to this agreement during the negotiations on December 21 in Moscow, BelaPAN reports.

Russia will supply 11.5 million tons of crude oil to Belarus in the first half of next year.

The officials said that Belarus and Russia were ready to sign agreements specifying next year’s volumes of Russian exports of coal, electricity and natural gas to Belarus, said the Russian government’s press office.

Belarus originally wanted to sign agreements on oil deliveries for the entire 2014 calendar year, but Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said on December 17 that Russia and Belarus were discussing the supply of oil only for the first half of the year.

A week before, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that whether or not Moscow and Minsk would formally agree on how much Russian crude oil would be supplied to Belarus in 2014 would depend on the "entire range" of bilateral relations.