SOCAR sends its first oil tanker to Belarus

http://www.petrotahlil.com/en/tiny/news-44058

Petrotahlil - Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR) has sent first tanker of Azerbaijani oil to the Belarusian State Concern for Oil and Chemistry (Belneftekhim Concern) by tankers from the Turkish port of Ceyhan to Belarus, Ibrahim Ahmadov, Deputy Head of the SOCAR Public Relations and Event Management Department told, local media reported.

He noted that 90,000 tons of Azeri LT (light oil) was shipped on the night of March 5.

SOCAR confirmed the agreement on the delivery of batch of Azerbaijani oil to Belneftekhim Concern.

According to him, the second tanker of nearly 85,000 tons of oil will be sent by March 20.

As it was reported earlier, it is planned to ship a second tanker from the Georgian port of Supsa with a volume of about 85,000 tons.

Belneftekhim spokesperson Alexander Tishchenko said earlier that SOCAR will send two oil tankers to Belarus with the volume of 160,000 tons to the Odessa port in March, with its further transportation via the Odessa-Brody pipeline.

Azerbaijani oil will be delivered from Ukraine to the Mozyr oil refinery in Belarus via the Odessa-Brody pipeline.

In addition, recently, the Chairman of the Belneftekhim Concern Andrey Ribakov stated that SOCAR may supply up to 1 million tons of oil to Belarus in 2020.

‘Volumes will increase from year to year. This year, we are talking about the volume of up to 1 million tons of oil. This will be determined every month based on economic, logistical factors. However, it will be defined on a permanent basis, Ribakov said.

Note that PM of Belarus Sergei Roumas and SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev met on March 2 in Belarus, with which the agreement in principle has been reached on strategic cooperation both in the current year and in subsequent years.

The head of the concern recalled that Belarus has long-standing ties with SOCAR, since Belarusian refineries have already refined Azerbaijani oil: ‘Colleagues confirmed the possibility of continuing this strategic cooperation in the current year and subsequent years. It is, in a sense, international collaboration, as it will involve the pipeline system of Ukraine. It will ensure transportation of oil to the Mozyr Oil Refinery, including its refining and supply of oil products to Ukraine, Belarus, as well, Ribakov stated.

‘The expansion of the Azerbaijani companies’ participation in investment projects in Belarus was also discussed with the management of SOCAR. The special unit of SOCAR is already working at the Mozyr Oil Refinery, Ribakov recalled.

‘They [SOCAR] have established themselves as high-quality, reliable partners, fulfilling all their commitments on time. Therefore, the possible participation of SOCAR in projects at Naftan and other enterprises in the Belneftekhim concern system, as well as in projects in other sectors, was discussed, he underlined.

It is worthy to note that Belarus purchased oil from SOCAR in 2011 and 2016 and the Azerbaijani side also purchases Belarusian oil products.

Recently, it was informed that the infrastructure is almost ready for the transportation of Azerbaijani oil to the Mozyr Oil Refinery in Belarus from Ukraine through the Odessa-Brody pipeline.

Belneftekhim, which was established in 1997 performs a full cycle of works related to crude oil exploration and production, its transportation, refining and oil product sales.

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