FORMER COMMUNIST BLOC COUNTRIES HIT BY OIL SHORTAGES

Communist or former Communist nations that were members of the now disintegrating, Moscow dominated Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) are reporting steadily worsening economic conditions in large part because of oil shortages.

Authorities in some CMEA countries have voiced bitterness over sharp cuts in Soviet oil deliveries at a time when imports from Iraq have been cut off. The U.S.S.R. replies that it, too, is suffering an energy crisis and can't export more oil to CMEA nations that still obtain Soviet petroleum at a discount and pay for it in soft currencies.

Recent Moscow reports from CMEA nations include:

HUNGARY

Soviet crude deliveries will be cut 30% this year, and overall bilateral trade is plummeting.

Soviet officials say Hungary gained billions of dollars in past years by "exploiting" CMEA principles, especially by purchasing Soviet fuel below world prices. They add that Hungary earned $400 million last year alone by selling products made from Soviet oil to western countries.

The planned Jan. 1 switch to hard currency payments for goods exchanged between Hungary and the U.S.S.R. will cost Bucharest billions of dollars in 1991.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Soviet oil workers in western Siberia's Tyumen Province, dealing directly with officials in Prague, have signed a contract to deliver 500,000 tons of crude to Czechoslovakia during the final 3 months of 1990. The first 60,000 tons were to be sent this month via the Druzhba pipeline.

In exchange, Czechoslovakia will deliver automobiles, buses, automatic loaders, bulldozers, and consumer goods such as shoes, furniture, textiles, and glassware to Tyumen.

Meanwhile, Prague officials told Moscow that delivery shortfalls and payment of higher prices for Soviet oil in hard currency are not just a matter of business and dollars. They said the shift in Soviet trade policy "is above all a matter of Czechoslovakia's future stability."

POLAND

The U.S.S.R. will deliver an added 1.4 billion cu m of gas to Poland in first quarter 1991 in exchange for $120 million worth of food and tobacco.

Moscow will reduce 1990 crude shipments to Poland by about 25%. Warsaw officials are trying to work out new contracts for delivery of Soviet oil.

During the first 8 months of 1990, the U.S.S.R.'s deliveries of crude to Poland were 1.5 million tons short of contract volume, and gasoline deliveries were only half of the year's quota. As a result, long lines of vehicles formed at Warsaw service stations.

Retaliating for the Soviet fuel supply shortfall, Poland will curtail exports of coal, coke, and sulfur to Russia during the remainder of 1990 and refuse to buy lumber, wood products, chrome ore, synthetic rubber, tractors, and other goods from the U.S.S.R. in 1991.

BULGARIA

Energy shortages contributed heavily to a 10.7% drop in industrial production during the first 9 months of 1990 vs. the same period last year. Inflation is rising, and exports are falling.

Bulgaria's president says his country faces "complete catastrophe" if the U.S.S.R. demands hard currency payment for oil, gas, and other goods beginning Jan. 1. He asked Moscow to permit soft currency payments during a transitional period in view of Bulgaria's economic plight.

Sofia says reduced Soviet oil product deliveries have forced the Bulgarian state airline to cut its flights sharply, especially on domestic routes.

Gasoline sales to private car owners were limited to no more than 40 l./month effective Oct. 15. Waiting time at service stations "are hours long, with a record of 73 hr."

ROMANIA

Falling oil, gas, and coal production, along with reduced electrical power generation, cost Romania's economy $1.1 billion during the first 9 months of this year. Bucharest officials say the energy shortage has placed the nation in "a crisis situation."

CUBA

Gasoline rations for private cars have been reduced by 30% from the previous allotment of 240 l./quarter. Lower speed limits have been imposed. Authorities this month ordered a 10% cut in electrical power consumption. The official newspaper Granma said the step was caused by reduced Soviet crude and refined products deliveries.

VIET NAM

The nation's fuel crisis will persist even if 1990 South China Sea oil production jumps to the planned 50,000 b/d. Soviet refined products deliveries, which totaled 37,000 b/d in 1989, are expected to decline this year. Hanoi raised prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and lubricants by about 150% early this month. Viet Nam still owes Iraq for small crude deliveries in past years. About 17,000 Vietnamese workers were still in Iraq Oct. 1.