{"id":153877,"date":"2010-01-08T09:19:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T14:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/european-oil-supplies-threatened-as-russia-belarus-pipeline-talks-collapse-2010-1"},"modified":"2010-01-08T09:19:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T14:19:00","slug":"europe-held-hostage-as-russia-belarus-oil-pipeline-talks-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/153877","title":{"rendered":"Europe Held Hostage As Russia-Belarus Oil Pipeline Talks Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vladimirputin<\/p>\n

Belarus negotiators have been left to scurry home without result after talks with Russia over pipeline import duties ended fruitless.<\/p>\n

Nobody would really care if it weren’t for the fact that 75% of the oil in question supplies Europe.<\/p>\n

Think the U.S. is held hostage by energy dependence?<\/p>\n

It’s nothing when to compared to the other side of the pond. No wonder they’re pushing alternative energy so hard.<\/p>\n

Business Week:<\/a> Russia is asking Belarus to pay full import duties on crude oil it refines and transits to the West, abolishing a current 65 percent discount. Experts estimate that equates to a $5 billion increase in costs for the poor former Soviet satellite, which buys about 20 million metric tons of Russian crude annually. Belarus consumes about a quarter and ships the rest onward in a lucrative cargo worth more than a third of the country’s export revenues.<\/p>\n

Read more here ><\/a><\/p>\n

Join the conversation about this story »<\/a><\/p>\n

See Also:<\/b><\/p>\n