Belarusian Refineries Went Into Negative Territory
3- 14.05.2025, 7:53
- 5,782
The regime has stopped making money from oil.
Is it true that the entire oil refining industry in Belarus has become unprofitable in 2025 and why? Answering this question, BEROC economist Anatoly Kharitonchik, reminds that not long ago the authorities found an opportunity that allowed the state to make money on oil, reports "Euroradio".
Then the situation changed.
- Indeed, if we look at the profitability of enterprises in Mozyr district and Novopolotsk, it is negative and was negative all last year.
This is due to the fact that after the introduction of sanctions on Russian oil, the discount between Russian and world oil widened. Belarus bought oil from Russia very cheaply and then sold it to the world markets at, in principle, normal prices.
The discount with world prices widened, but not so much. And this additional benefit for 2022-2023 averaged more than $1.7-1.8 billion a year for Belarusian refineries.
In 2024, this benefit decreased by almost half (or almost a billion dollars). This happened because the discount of the Russian Urals oil price decreased. Accordingly, global and Belarusian producers began to buy oil more expensive relative to the selling price of petroleum products.
When costs are rising, and it is impossible to compensate them in the domestic market due to strict regulation and low prices, the financial situation of Belarusian refineries deteriorates significantly.
This is most likely why the government was forced to raise prices for gasoline and other fuels in Belarus quite significantly in the spring of 2025. Currently, the situation has stabilized a bit, but the volume of oil product supplies from Belarus is still low.
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