The first tanker with almost 80 thousand tons of American oil for Belarus arrived at the port of Lithuanian Klaipeda.

This was announced on Saturday by the press secretary of the Belarusian state concern Belneftekhim Alexander Tishchenko.

" Further, oil will be directed by rail to the Novopolotsk Oil Refinery, "

According to the spokesman, for Belarus this is the twelfth tanker supply this year from alternative suppliers to Russian.

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In May, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that the republic is starting to purchase oil from the United States. According to him, this became possible following the agreements reached during a visit to Minsk on February 1 by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and his meeting with President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko.

Prior to this, Belneftekhim said that the Belarusian side was counting on the supply of American oil to its refinery by pipeline from Poland.

Lukashenko also said that the United States could provide cheap loans for the construction of a pipeline for pumping oil from the Baltic to the republic. Belarus diversifies oil supplies to its refineries amid periodic price differences with the main and traditional supplier - Russia. Continuing to purchase Russian oil with supplies via the Druzhba trunk oil pipeline and by rail, Belarus works with alternative routes for transporting raw materials to its refineries. Oil is delivered by sea through ports in Klaipeda and Odessa.