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First train laden with Venezuelan crude arrives in Belarus

The first train laden with Venezuelan crude oil arrived at the Mazyr oil refinery on Sunday morning.

“The first 57 tank cars carrying oil from Venezuela have arrived at the refinery this morning,” a source at Belarusian Railroads told BelaPAN.

A total of 22 trains are expected to deliver the first Venezuelan shipment of 80,000 tons to the Mazyr refinery.

The pilot shipment was brought to Ukraine’s Odessa seaport on April 25 by the Sea Star, an 820-foot-long tanker flying the flag of Malta.

Under a contract signed in Caracas on March 17, up to four million tons of oil is to be supplied to Belarus before the end of the year.

The Belarusian authorities are said to be in talks with Ukraine about the possibility of using the Odessa-Brody pipeline for the delivery of Venezuelan crude oil to Belarus. The terms of the deliveries are expected to be agreed upon by June 1.