Azerbaijan to resume oil exports via Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR and Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft signed a new deal on resuming oil shipments via Russia after exports were halted for technical reasons, AzerNews reports.

SOCAR will resume oil transportation via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline on March 1, Russian media quoted Transneft president’s advisor Igor Demin as saying on Thursday, February 25.

“It was initially planned to transport around 1.3 million tons of oil [through the pipeline]. However, transportation volumes will be smaller as the agreement will come into force in March,” Demin explained.

Noting that the volumes will be defined for every month, Demin said the agreement is similar to the ones signed in previous years.

SOCAR transported 1.27 million tons of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2015, up from 932,160 tons in 2014. SOCAR had initially planned to halt oil exports via Russia in February 2014 due to differences over transportation tariffs and volumes of supply, opting instead to send the bulk of its crude through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and retaining some to cover rising domestic demand for oil products. The company reversed its plans later that month.