Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 June / Trend / In winter-autumn period Azerbaijan can fully cease the use of mazut as fuel for production of electricity at the thermo-power stations, a senior official of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) said.
Refusal from consumption of mazut is linked with the increased gas production in the country. In winter Azerbaijan is expected to receive approximately 35mln cu m of gas from all sources (SOCAR's private gas and the Shah Deniz field). Furthermore, it is planned to pump 1.2bln cu m of gas to reservoirs, which will enable to cover the energy producers' demand in fuel.
Following the refusal from Russian gas imports since the beginning of 2007, Azerbaijan had to transit to mazut regime, stipulating increase of this product at the oil refinery plants and its use as fuel. However, demand in mazut is decreasing following increase of gas production.