In  December a/s "Ventspils nafta" has loaded 1.5 million tons of crude

oil  and  ,  thus  the volumes for the full year 1999 amounting to 18.4

million tons. This is 2 million tons over the official forecast for the

year.  Ventspils  nafta  has remained competitive in 1999 both owing to

the  modernisation and expansion programme with 10 new oil tanks as the

key  project,  and  to the flexible tariff policy. As a response to the

price  situation in the market, the company has reduced the tariffs for

crude oil loading to 4.7 USD per ton (by 0.3

USD).   Simultaneously,   SIA  "LatRosTrans",  a  daughter  company  of

Ventspils  nafta and an owner of the pipelines, has reduced its tariffs

for crude oil transportation to 2.10 USD per ton.