Despite last-minute negotiations, Belarusian gas processing plants stop receiving petroleum from Russia

Beginning on January 1, Belarusian gas processing plants stopped receiving raw materials from Russia, Interfax reported. One facility told journalists that it was subsisting on gas that had been stockpiled in December.

In the course of January 3, the company Belneftekhim told TASS that Belarus had temporarily stopped exporting petroleum products due to the shortage.

The company also told Interfax that Belarusian representatives are actively working “to establish contracts for January.”

High-level Russian and Belorusian officials spent the final days and hours of 2019 attempting to reach a contract for gas transport into Europe. While an informal agreement was established, no contract was ultimately signed.

Delayed negotiations between Russia and Belarus have threatened similar shutdowns multiple times in the past; in 2000, gas supply disruptions in Belarus impacted other European countries as well.