Azerbaijan, Baku, March 11 / Trend U.Ismayilova /
The Mozyr Oil Refinery of Belarus will receive the Azerbaijani oil for recycling in April, Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Nikolai Paskevich said at a business meeting of the Azerbaijani -Belarusian businessmen in Baku on Friday.
"It is planned to process 4 million tons of oil per year," he said.
The Azerbaijani Azeri Light crude oil will reach the Belarusian oil refineries thanks to the fact that the Odessa-Brody pipeline was launched in the direct mode.
The Odessa-Brody pipeline was officially launched into the direct mode on Jan. 31 and actually the transportation of Azerbaijani oil to the Mozyr refinery by pipeline began on Feb.14 and before that oil was stored in tanks.
While transforming the pipeline to the designed mode it contained 620,000 tons of Urals crude. Currently, Azerbaijani oil pushes out it and following the completion of this process, Azerbaijani oil will reach the Belarusian oil refineries.
A contract for the supply of oil from Azerbaijan was signed between the Belarusian Oil Company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). Under the contract, about 4 million tons of oil will be supplied in 2011. Oil will be delivered to the port South, and then by the Odessa-Brody and Drujba pipelines to the Mozyr oil refinery.
A contract for pumping hydrocarbon raw material using the Odessa -Brody pipeline was signed between CJSC Belarusian Oil Company and JSC Ukrtransnafta. Azerbaijani oil will be supplied to Belarus simultaneously with the supply of raw material from Venezuela.
Oil supplies to Belarus through Ukraine open to Azerbaijan, the Caribbean and the U.S. markets, as the Belarusian, Venezuelan and Azerbaijani sides have agreed to swap supplies.
Venezuela has an obligation to supply oil for Belarusian oil refineries. However, this project requires a significant investment in crude oil transportation. The presence of the swap contract allows SOCAR to deliver oil from Azerbaijan to Belarus, and in turn, to send Venezuelan oil to South America. Specifically, SOCAR is interested in acquiring Venezuelan Santa Barbara oil to sell on the U.S. market. SOCAR would supply oil to Belarus and receive the same amount from Venezuela.