Belarus and Russia will hold additional talks on tax maneuvers related to the oil sector over the next three to four month, Andrei Kobyakov, the Belarusian presidential administration chief of staff,  said on Thursday.

Russian tax moves in the oil sector could have cost Belarus more than $1 billion.

The goal of the negotiations is to allow representatives of the two countries to “decide how this tax maneuver will work at the initial stage since it’s a rather new technique for both sides,” Kobyakov said. “We told our Russian partners right away that there had been a substantial deterioration of conditions and they met us halfway."

The countries already agreed that all export duties from products produced in Belarus will go into the country’s budget. This amounts to approximately $2.5 billion.

Negotiations are expected to wrap up by early 2015.