In a significant agreement, Venezuela and Belarus agreed on a mega oil deal worth $19.4 billion.
Visiting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko signed a deal enabling the former soviet state with 30 million metric tons of oil over three years from 2011.
Belarus has slashed imports of Russia's Urals blend and increased purchases from Venezuela since Moscow imposed export duties, a step that raised the price for Minsk by about 36 percent.
"Belarussian refineries will have no shortages for the next 200 years," Chavez said after more than seven hours of talks with Lukashenko.
Neither side disclosed the price tag for the deal. But state statistics show Belarus is now buying Venezuelan crude for $647 per ton, pricing 30 million tons at about $19.4 billion.
That is a major boon for Belarus, whose gross domestic product is just $55 billion. Belarus refines crude from Russia and Venezuela and then sells the products on to European Union customers, representing a large chunk of its national economy.
But Belarus has plans to reverse a part of the Europe-bound Druzhba pipeline to allow greater volumes of Venezuelan crude to reach Belarus from Odessa.
Visiting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko signed a deal enabling the former soviet state with 30 million metric tons of oil over three years from 2011.
Belarus has slashed imports of Russia's Urals blend and increased purchases from Venezuela since Moscow imposed export duties, a step that raised the price for Minsk by about 36 percent.
"Belarussian refineries will have no shortages for the next 200 years," Chavez said after more than seven hours of talks with Lukashenko.
Neither side disclosed the price tag for the deal. But state statistics show Belarus is now buying Venezuelan crude for $647 per ton, pricing 30 million tons at about $19.4 billion.
That is a major boon for Belarus, whose gross domestic product is just $55 billion. Belarus refines crude from Russia and Venezuela and then sells the products on to European Union customers, representing a large chunk of its national economy.
But Belarus has plans to reverse a part of the Europe-bound Druzhba pipeline to allow greater volumes of Venezuelan crude to reach Belarus from Odessa.
