Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Energy, Legislation, Lithuania, Oil, Transport

Oil products sold under earlier contracts will continue to be handled in Klaipeda, the terminal's operator said in a statement published on the Nasdaq Vilnius website. 

BNK has promised to inform Klaipedos Nafta as soon as its exports resume in full capacity, it said, adding, however, that if the uncertainty continues, it might affect its 2021 performance results.  

The state-controlled terminal operator said it was making "every effort to promptly find out the customer's specific need for services in 2021 and prepare adequately for any operational scenario".  

Klaipedos Nafta has been working with partners in Belarus for more than ten years.

The Lithuanian company has posted 23.7 million euros in revenue and 6.7 million euros in adjusted net profits from its oil handling business for January-September 2020, close to year-earlier figures of 23.9 million euros and 7 million euros, respectively. 

Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said in late August that his country would stop using Lithuanian ports for exporting its products, mostly potassium salt and oil products.

In early October, Lukashenko threatened to "deal with" cargo flows from Lithuania and Latvia. He also said that Minsk and Moscow were in talks on diverting Belarusian cargoes from Baltic ports to the Russian port of Ust Luga.