The new pipeline will allow Russia to evade using Belarus as its transit partner for oil exports to the West
The Russian Industry and Energy Ministry has called a project to build an oil pipeline bypassing Belarus as a priority, reports Russian News and Information Agency. The Belarusian economy is heavily dependant on the oil transits from Russia to Western Europe. The new pipeline threatens to strip the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline of its monopoly status. The pipeline extends for almost 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) across Belarusian territory and pumps on average up to 80 million tons of Russian oil per year to Germany, Poland and Ukraine.
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