Second Venezuelan crude tanker for Belarus at Odessa:sources

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A second Aframax tanker with Venezuelan crude Santa Barbara bound for
Belarus is discharging at the Black Sea port of Odessa, sources said Tuesday.

The tanker Minerva Sofia started discharging Saturday, said a source on
the sidelines of the Russian petroleum and gas congress conference in Moscow.

Belarus already received 80,000 mt of the same grade in May, and expects
the third delivery to arrive by the Aframax Genmar Defense next Tuesday, a
source with the Belarusian Oil Company said.

Belarus expects four more tankers to load in July, the first of which is
scheduled to load in Venezuela on July 3, the source said.

"They will be loading at regular intervals throughout July," the source
said adding that it takes around two weeks for the crude to reach Odessa.

There are three outstanding cargoes in Venezuela slated to be lifted July
9-11, 15-17, and 25-27, according to a notice sent by broker Southport
Maritime to its clients Tuesday.

Venezuela has agreed to sell the oil to Belarus as part of their
"socialist cooperation," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in March.

In April, Ukraine said it would help Belarus to import, process and
market up to 200,000 b/d of crude that Minsk has agreed to take from
Venezuela.

According to the agreement reached by Ukraine's President Viktor
Yanukovych and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, Venezuelan
crude would be shipped by oil tanker to Odessa and then be transported either
by rail or via a new oil pipeline section across Ukraine to Belarus.

Belarus has no access to sea ports.

The crude is then supplied to Belarus Mozyr refinery, sources said.

Belarus has long been looking to reduce its dependence on Russian oil
imports, which have been restricted several times over the past several years,
most recently in January.

At that time, Russia complained that Belarus was profiting from the
import of cheap Russian oil by reselling produced gasoline on other markets,
including in Ukraine, at world market prices.

Russia's restrictions included slapping extra duty on exports of oil to
Belarus in excess of an annual quota.

Belarus sources said that the delivered price of the Venezuelan crude was
competitive after considering that alternative Russian supplies would pay tax.

Meanwhile, Russia has started to cut natural gas supplies to Belarus in a
gas debt payment dispute although that may be moving to a resolution within
hours, according to a Gazprom representative.(See story 13:30 GMT)
--Jorge Montepeque, jorge_montepeque@platts.com
--Elza Turner, elza_turner@platts.com
--Luciano Battistini, luciano_battistini@platts.com