The State oil company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has shipped 905,700 tons of crude oil (mixed with law quality Urals blend) off the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk since January through June, down 375,700 tons against the year-ago figure.
The company told Trend that last month it had shipped the aggregated consignment of 90,500 tons of crude oil off the Russian coast, up 14,100 tons from the performance in May, but down 126,000 tons as compared to the corresponding figure of June 2004.
The reduction of the weight of shipments of crude is explained by the filling in the Northern Route Export Pipeline (Baku-Novorossiysk) with the turnout of the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) following the first commercial production from the AIOC-operated Azeri oil field.
As of 2004 year-end, SOCAR has realized 2.559 million tons of crude oil off the port of Novorossiysk, up 77,100 tons as compared to the corresponding performance in 2003. The pumping of crude oil into the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline is charged with the tariff at the rate of 15.67 U.S. dollars per ton of the turnout.