Belarus Pipeline Crisis Ends
After disrupting the delivery of oil to Poland and Germany, Belarus has opened the flow of oil to western Europe. The shutdown of oil supplies was affecting five EU countries.
The pipeline was opened because of a reported deal between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, ending the dispute. The two leaders spoke on the phone and agreed to let the oil flow while reviewing the proposals on the table to solve the dispute over taxes for oil. Talks are scheduled to start as soon as possible.
Russia has originally shut down the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline because it thought Belarus was siphoning oil from it. It caused worry about Russian being a reliable energy supplier. OAO Transneft, the Russian pipeline operator, claimed Belarus had stole 80,000 metric tons of oil.
Russian stocks, which had been dropping because of falling oil prices started to reverse that trend after the news was announced.
Poland reported that the Russian oil deliveries to both Poland and Germany had resumed at the Belarus/Poland border Wednesday night. Poland says it will take a few hours for the deliveries to resume to full capacity. Poland and Germany are sharing the first few shipments that arrive.
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