[3] According to the charter issued by the Council of Ministers, Belneftekhim is given powers to manage petrochemical companies of the concern, coordinate and assist their development, set retail prices (including gasoline), give permission for the construction of gas stations and several other rights.

[18] At the same time, state-owned CJSC Belarusian Oil Company or BNK (Russian: Белорусская Нефтяная Компания, БНК) controlled by Belneftekhim also exported petroleum products to the EU, UK and Ukraine.

In 2021, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation of the British HM Treasury stated: "There are reasonable grounds to suspect that BNK (UK) Ltd Company is controlled directly or indirectly by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko".

[21] Belneftekhim has been subject to United States sanctions following waves of political repressions and human rights abuse by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.

[28][29][30] In April 2021, full-scale sanctions against Belneftekhim as an entry in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List were renewed following brutal political repressions against the opposition after another rigged presidential election that took place in August 2020 and was accompanied by mass protests across Belarus.

[36] In the same month, Switzerland,[37] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway[38] joined these sanctions.

In August 2020, groups of workers at Belneftekhim-controlled companies Naftan and Grodno Azot participated in nationwide protests against Alexander Lukashenko following a rigged presidential election.

Their detention was connected with the threat of Alexander Lukashenko that workers who reveal the ways of bypassing the sanctions would be put in jail for a long time.