Belarus: transit fee must be raised 21% after Russian oil contamination

MINSK (Reuters) - The Belarusian operator of the Druzhba pipeline said on Thursday that its oil transit tariff must be raised by 21% to compensate it for shortfalls in transit volumes resulting from a Russian oil contamination earlier this year.

Russia in April briefly halted oil flows in the Druzhba pipeline to eastern Europe and Germany because of contaminated crude. Oil sent to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga was also tainted.

Transit volumes are set to fall to 54 million tonnes this year, compared to 60 million tonnes last year, Belarus' pipeline operator said.

(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Maria Kiselyova)