Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 19 / Trend E. Ismailov /
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Russian Rosneft Company are holding talks on a possible reversal of Urals oil on the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline of five million tons a year, the head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists on Monday.
According to him, the sides are holding talks on a possible partial transit of Urals oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, where it will be possible to forward the oil for processing to the Italian and German oil refineries where Rosneft has a participating share.
The possibility of processing a part of the oil that will be sent via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline to Azerbaijan is also being considered.
Abdullayev said the sides intend to hold talks and evaluate the effectiveness of these operations before late 2013. Upon reaching an agreement, these operations may begin next year.
According to him, the issues with the Russian Transneft (a monopoly oil pipeline operator in Russia) on operating oil transportation via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and implementation of the project with Rosneft will be resolved by the latter independently.
As regards other possible SOCAR and Rosneft projects, the head of the Azerbaijani company said that the sides show their interest in implementation of the projects in the sphere of trading operations.
In particular, Rosneft is showing great interest in the capabilities of SOCAR in Fujairah (UAE), Ceyhan (Turkey), in African countries, Singapore and others where SOCAR has opportunities for storing oil cargo.
Touching upon the cooperation of SOCAR and Rosneft in mining projects, Abdullayev said the two companies are interested in mutual cooperation, while the economic feasibility remains as the main issue.
At the beginning of the last week SOCAR and Rosneft signed agreements on cooperation and on the main conditions of oil supply.
According to the information, the agreement reached between the sides will allow the companies to expand their activities geographically, obtain access to new markets and resources, as well as optimise the supplies of oil and oil products at the expense of the mutual use of the existing infrastructure.
In addition, the sides reached an agreement on cooperation in the exploration and production projects in Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as in the sphere of marketing, sales of oil and oil products.
For this purpose s joint venture will be established on a parity basis. An agreement has been reached on sharing a number of infrastructure projects, particularly pipelines and terminals.
The agreement was signed by SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and chairman of the management board of the OJSC oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin.