Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Khalilova / In 2007 the volume of transportation of oil and oil products by the Azerbaijan State Railway (ASR) decreased by 1.7mln tons compared to last year, Arif Asgarov, the head of ASR.
Cut in transportation of transit oil and oil products is explained with preference given by some cargo deliverers from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, which used the Azerbaijani direction for transportation of their cargo, to more reasonable Iranian (Enzeli) and Russian (Makhachkala) routes.
In 2006 delivery of different cargo by railway made up 29.7mln tons, including approximately 16mln tons of oil and oil products.
Asgarov said that this year delivery of transit oil and oil products was cut 400,000 tons and local by 1.3mln tons compared to last year.
Cut in delivery of oil and oil products from Azerbaijan is a natural process. Since April the partners in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields (excluding the companies Exxon and Devon) ceased the transportation of their oil via railways.