Oil products is Belarus’ most important export commodity. In 2016, Russia shortened oil deliveries to Belarus for about 20% compared to 2015, because of the bilateral dispute over gas prices. As a result, export of oil products by Belarus decreased. Coupled with drop in oil prices, Belarus’ revenues from oil products’ export have fallen dramatically over the last years.
In January-November 2016 Belarus exported 12.3 million tons of oil products worth of $3.8 billion, while in 2012 the volume of export reached 17.5 million of tons for $14.5 billion.
Noteworthily, in 2016 Ukraine became the main buyer of Belarus’ oil products in terms of generated revenue. Although the volume of exported Belarusian oil products to the Netherlands and Ukraine in January-November 2016 was equal (around 3.9 mln tons), Ukraine’s market brought the revenue more than twice larger.
