June brought several alarming developments: gale-force winds left OJSC «Mogilevkhimvolokno» without power, a major gas pipeline ruptured, and the greenhouse gas emission reductions from the launch of the nuclear power plant turned out to be far lower than expected.
Meanwhile, drilling was completed on four new oil wells. By 2030, Belarus expects to increase oil production to 2.3 million tonnes. However, 56% of the country’s current reserves (46 million tonnes) are classified as hard-to-recover.
Key events
The reconstruction of a section of the 330 kV «Gomel – Krychev» power transmission line in the Dobrush district has been completed. As part of the project, four anchor angle reinforced concrete poles were replaced with steel ones. The length of the reconstructed section amounted to 3.5 km.
Emergency power outages due to severe weather:
On July 10, intense thunderstorms and heavy rain accompanied by squally winds were observed across a large part of the country.
As the storm front passed through the Mogilev region, outages were recorded in both the main and distribution power grids in several districts.
At 01:58 on July 10, an unplanned shutdown of workshops and production facilities occurred at OJSC «Magileuhimvalakno.» A strong wind broke a power supply pole, leaving the entire facility without electricity. Power supply was restored only by July 19.
As of 08:00 on July 10, 44 overhead power lines of 10 kV voltage, 260 transformer substations, and 107 settlements within the 6–10 kV grid zone remained without electricity.
Between July 9 and 11, power supply was disrupted in more than 1,300 settlements.
On July 30, a powerful thunderstorm front caused widespread power outages in the town of Kalodzishchi — more than 600 private residential houses were left without electricity. All damages were repaired within the day. That same day, workers of Vitebskenergo restored power supply in nearly 400 settlements of the Vitebsk region.
On July 24 at approximately 20:45, a rupture occurred on a 700 mm diameter trunk pipeline operated by OJSC «Gazprom Transgaz Belarus.» Gas supply to consumers in the city of Minsk and the Minsk district is being provided through the second line. There were no restrictions in gas supply to consumers.
From July 16 to 31, seismic exploration drilling and blasting operations were carried out in the Gomel region.
On July 28, the second power unit of the Belarusian NPP was reconnected to the grid after completing technological operations to restore the generator cooling system.
On July 6, 2025, the unit was disconnected from the grid by decision of the personnel due to an alarm triggered by deviations in the operation of the generator cooling system.
At Gomel CHPP-2, as part of the major overhaul of power unit No. 3, a major overhaul of the T-180/210-130-1 turbo generator is being carried out.
Personnel of the Mogilev Electrical Networks branch have upgraded the equipment at the 110/35/10 kV «Gorki-Yuzhnaya» substation. As part of the modernization, modern microprocessor-based relay protection devices were implemented at the substation.
Comprehensive reconstruction is actively underway at the 110 kV «Pinsk-Zahodniaja» substation. At the current stage, the T-2 power transformer with a capacity of 25 MVA has been dismantled.
Statistics and data
In the first half of 2025, the oil asset portfolio of Belarusneft was supplemented with 39 new sites. Drilling of four wells was completed in June.
Oil production volume in the first half of the year increased by 4.5% compared to the same period last year. Since 2015, the annual drilling volume has increased 2.5 times.
Planned targets:
2025 — 2,005,000 tons of oil;
2030 — 2,300,000 tons of oil.
By the end of 2025, Belarusian oil workers plan to drill over 300,000 meters of rock formations. For comparison, drilling in 2024 amounted to 285,000 meters.
Recoverable hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 46 million tons, of which 56% are hard-to-recover reserves.
From August 1, tariffs for electric vehicle charging at the «Malanka» charging station network will increase again.
Slow charging — 0.49 BYN ($0.16) per kWh (previously 0.46 BYN ($0.15) per kWh)
Fast charging — 0.65 BYN ($0.22) per kWh (previously 0.61 BYN ($0.20) per kWh)
Tariffs for reservation and connector use after charging completion remain unchanged.
The number of registered electric vehicles in Belarus has risen to 30,000.
In June, their number increased by 2,326 units.
Additionally, the number of charging stations in the Malanka New network grew by 23 units over the month.
In the first half of 2025, 500 thousand tons of peat were extracted from Belarusian peatlands. The plan is to extract about 1.9 million tons by the end of the season.
Statements
The southern regions of the Gomel region represent a geological opportunity for the discovery of new oil and gas fields. This was emphasized by Petr Povzhik, Deputy General Director for Geology of OJSC «Belarusneft,» during a visit to the seismic exploration camp in the Rechitsa district.
“This year we plan to produce just over 2 million tons of oil,” said Ilya Ikan, Chairman of the Belneftekhim concern. According to him, Belarusian oil is of high quality: it is lighter than Russian oil and yields a higher output of light petroleum products.
Topic of the Issue: Greenhouse gas emissions
The UNFCCC website has published the results of Belarus’s greenhouse gas emissions calculations as of 2023.
In total, in 2023, the volume of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for absorption, amounted to 45.8 million tons, which corresponds to 37.06% of the 1990 level (with commitments under the Paris Agreement at 65%).
Emission volumes in agriculture, industry, and waste management remain relatively stable. Only the waste management sector shows a slight increase in emissions.
Absorption volumes in the LULUCF sector (forestry and land use) have shown a steady increasing trend in recent years, reaching a record 41.3 million tons in 2023. This dynamic largely determines the overall trend in greenhouse gas emissions.
Another significant sector is energy. In recent decades, it has influenced the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2021, this sector has also seen a reduction in emissions.
Within this sector, the subcategory of fugitive emissions stands out, which has increased in recent years. It was expected that their volumes would decrease, as they are associated with leaks of oil and natural gas, the use of which has declined. The volume of oil and gas transit, which has practically ceased since 2022, also affects these emissions. However, despite this, fugitive gas emissions have increased.
The main drivers of emission reductions have been industry and transport, which reduced emissions by 14% and 13% respectively compared to 2021, while the heat and electricity production sector reduced emissions by only 8% (2.4 million tons of CO₂).
It was precisely in this sector that a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was expected after the launch of the nuclear power plant, estimated at around 6, and sometimes up to 10 million tons. Part of this reduction was offset by increased electricity consumption (41.1 billion kWh in 2023 compared to 40.5 billion kWh in 2021), as well as low output at the nuclear power plant, which in 2023 amounted to only 11.7 billion kWh instead of the planned 18 billion kWh.
Nevertheless, the substitution of 11.1 billion kWh (considering consumption growth of 0.6 billion kWh) led to a reduction in emissions of only 2.4 million tons. Therefore, full planned operation of the nuclear power plant will not achieve the target reduction level of 6 million tons of CO₂.
Материал доступен на русском языке: Тарифы для электромобилей растут, а выбросы парниковых газов не сокращаются. Энергетический дайджест за июль 2025
