Belarus has closed its pipeline because of a growing dispute with Russia, which is making it pay higher energy prices.

The 2,500-mile-long pipeline serves Germany and Poland, and has the capacity to ship more than 1.2 million barrels a day to central and eastern Europe.

Transneft, the Russian state pipeline operator, says the closure of the Belarusian section has so far blocked 79,000 tonnes of Russian oil from reaching its destination, which recipients Poland and Germany have confirmed.

The impact of a short-term stoppage in Poland and Germany is likely to be minimal as refineries maintain strategic oil stocks, and the European Union's energy commissioner has said it poses "no immediate risk" to energy supplies in the bloc.

But the disruption to Russian oil supplies to Europe once again highlights concerns about Russia's reliability as an energy supplier a year after its pricing dispute with Ukraine briefly affected EU imports of Russian natural gas.

Economists today predicted the dispute could cause long-term overall oil prices to rise if it was not contained soon, because sellers from other markets could take the opportunity to raise their own prices.

"If this situation is not resolved with relative expediency, the market may interpret it as a repeat of the Ukraine situation from last year, which would have bullish energy price implications," Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina, told the Associated Press news agency.

"The magnitude of the reaction of energy markets will be directly dependent on how protracted this situation becomes or appears likely to become."

Simon Vainshtok, the head of the Russian state pipeline operator Transneft, accused Belarus of siphoning off Russian oil through the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline that was destined for Europe since the weekend.

"On January 6 the Belarusian side, without warning anyone, unilaterally started illegally siphoning off oil from the Druzhba pipeline designed solely for the transportation of oil to consumers in Western Europe," Mr Vainshtok said, according to Russian news agencies.

The Transneft chief called on Minsk to ensure the uninterrupted transit of oil - but added that Russia was boosting oil exports to Europe via other routes in the meantime.

Belneftekhim, a large state Belarusian industrial and energy holding company, ordered the suspension of transit of oil through Druzhba to Germany, Poland and Ukraine, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies quoted unidentified officials from the pipeline's Belarusian section as saying.

Officials from Belneftekhim declined to comment. However Andrei Popov, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said ambiguously that Minsk had been "obliged to take measures to counter the economic damage to the Republic of Belarus from a shortage of important energy resources." He declined to elaborate.

In Warsaw, the Economics Ministry said Poland was suffering disruptions in oil deliveries from the pipeline that crossed Belarus, the result of the dispute between Moscow and Minsk.

"This shows us once again that arguments among various countries of the former Soviet Union, between suppliers and transit countries, mean that these deliveries are unreliable from our perspective," Piotr Naiminski, Poland's deputy economy minister, ttold one of the country's television stations.

The German government confirmed that the pipeline, which supplied two refineries in Germany, had been shut down.

Andris Piebalgs, the EU's energy commissioner, said he was seeking an "urgent and detailed explanation" of the cuts from authorities in Belarus and Russia. Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, the Commissioner's spokesman, added that Poland had 70 days of reserves and Germany 130 days to ensure no short-term fallout from the dispute.

The suspension of oil deliveries comes just days after Belarus and Russia reached a last-ditch agreement on gas prices that avoided a New Year's cut-off of natural gas for Belarusian consumers that threatened a repeat of last year's energy dispute between Moscow and Kiev.

Belarus grudgingly accepted a doubling of the price it pays for imports of Russian natural gas, on which it depends for industry and home heating. But the two countries are now locked in a dispute over oil duties, with Russia determined to stop Belarus from re-exporting petroleum products made from processing Russian oil bought cheaply.

Several countries in the European Union, which depends on Russia for 25% of its gas consumption, suffered a brief disruption in early 2006 after Moscow suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine because of a pricing dispute.

Ukraine and Belarus are the transit route for Russian gas to Europe. The inefficient, Soviet-style state-dominated economy in Belarus and authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko's popularity has depended heavily on subsidised Russian energy - but analysts say the Kremlin has grown impatient at supporting his regime while receiving little in return.

Belarus remains one of the most economically impoverished former Soviet countries.

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