Belarusia has proposed to Russian oil producer Rosneft to take part in the privatization of one of its two large oil refineries,Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Pyotr Prokopovich said on Friday.
Belarus has offered Rosneft an option to increase its stake in the Mozyr oil refinery on the condition that Rosneft doubles output at the plant,Prokopovich said in an address to parliament.
"One of the conditions for privatization is to increase oil refining to 20 million tonnes(per year)by 2020"from the current capacity of 11 million tonnes annually,he said.
Rosneft has stakes in Mozyr as Slavneft,its joint venture with Gazprom Neft,already owns 42 percent in Mozyr.The rest is controlled by the Belarus government.
Rosneft said it needed time to think about the proposal,Prokopovich said.
"I think they will make up their mind within one month.If they agree with this proposal,then this will be a very serious investment project,"he said.
If the project goes ahead,the economic effect would reach 4 billion U.S.dollars,he added.
Facing peak payments on its international debt in 2013-2014,Belarus plans to raise 4.5 billion U.S.dollars from privatization next year,including the sale of the Moyzr refinery,up from 3 billion dollars last year,according to reports.
