Belarus to receive Azeri oil through Georgia

Belarusian president Lukashenko announced during a December 20th press conference that his country will continue cooperation with Georgia but not at the expense of damaging Belarus-Russian relations. Lukashenko expressed his interest towards using Georgia’s transit capacity for energy trade. Lukashenko is most interested in the transportation of Azeri oil to Belarus via Georgia. Azeri oil could then be transported from Georgian black sea oil terminals by tankers to the Ukrainian Port of Odessa, where it would be pumped to Belarus through the Odessa-Brodi pipeline. This will be an additional and alternative supply for Belarus. Despite this it will still receive the majority of its oil from Russia. Pilot pumping of oil from Odessa to Brodi has already taken place along this route and could become more active the following year.