Feb 24, 2012:

MOSCOW -Russian oil major TNK-BP Ltd., half-owned by BP PLC (BP), said Friday it will temporarily halt crude supplies to its Lisichansk refinery in Ukraine, because it has become unprofitable due to new taxes. "TNK-BP management has taken the decision to temporarily halt crude deliveries to the refinery and start (the) maintenance period from March," a spokesman said.

The company "observed a serious deterioration of the domestic refining market in Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2011," the spokesman said. "The negative trends affecting refining economics in Ukraine have continued into the first quarter of 2012 and have a material effect on the financial results of TNK-BP's subsidiaries in the country."

TNK-BP said it will continue to fulfill its obligations on delivery of oil products. The refinery, which has a capacity of over 7 million metric tons of crude oil per year, supplies oil products to Ukraine's Donetsk and Stavropol regions as well as to Russia's Krasnodar region.

By The Wall Street Journal