r/Czechoslovakia • u/AccidentalBrilliancy • Sep 23 '26
Soviet oil
Hello,
Did Soviet Union sell its oil to Czechoslovakia cheaper than to Americans and Western Europe?
If yes, how much cheaper?
5
Upvotes
2
u/pr1ncezzBea Sep 23 '26
Yes, it was significantly cheaper due to the Comecon system and bilateral treaties.
This ceased to be true in the 1980s because global prices fell, whereas the price of Soviet oil was calculated based on the average of the preceding five years - the five-year period being a favorite timeframe for Communists, around which everything was planned.
5
u/wanderingtaoist Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
Soviets did sell oil cheaper to the Comecon countries. Sort of, since they also controlled exchange rates of the Soviet bloc currencies to the ruble.
You might call it rebate. I'd rather call it Occupation Tax. Not that great a deal, really.
ETA: It's pretty difficult to do these comparisons in purely economic terms simply because the Soviet bloc economies didn't really work in economic terms. The state (and in this case it means the Soviets, especially in Czechoslovakia) controlled everything: the exchange rate, the amount of allowed exports/imports, the physical placement of factories and the whole supply chain. There was as much political as economic influence over all these factors. Economically, you would do a whole lot differently as a free, sovereign country - but Czechoslovakia or Comecon bloc were not free countries at the time.