The details were added (the first version was posted at 3:07 p.m.)
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 8 / Trend S. Aliyev /
Transneft has suspended oil pumping via Baku-Makhachkala- Novorossiysk pipeline because some elements were illegally cut into it. This will not affect oil transportation from the port of Novorossiysk, spokesman for "Transneft" Igor Demin told Trend on Tuesday.
"Novorossiysk has large oil trade stocks," he said. "The weather in Novorossiysk is very unstable because of autumn. A large amount of oil accumulated there. So, shipping will not be affected."
Transneft suspended oil pumping via pipeline earlier on Tuesday, Demin said.
Oil pumping will be resumed during an hour.
"The operations are underway to eliminate the illegally cut elements," he said. It is not a problem to cover it. The investigation requires time."
There was an oil leak between the villages of Karl Marx and Vinogradnoe in the Kizlyar region of Dagestan. As a result of the leakage, about five cubic metres of fuel spilled. The area of contamination was approximately 30 to 35 square metres.
SOCAR deals with oil pumping via Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline.
SOCAR will sell two batches of oil amounting to 210,000 tons from the Russian port of Novorossiysk in November. The company exported 1.54 million tons by pipeline in January to October compared to 1.78 million tons in January to October 2010.
SOCAR exported 2.24 million tons via the northern route last year compared to 2.5 million tons in 2009. It also exported 1.2 million tons of oil in 2008 and about 1.2 million tons in 2007. The figure is similar to 2006. The export through the pipeline was 1.6 million tons in 2005.
SOCAR tranships oil extracted from its own fields, as well as that of the joint consortiums operating onshore in Azerbaijan through Novorossiysk.
The Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) became the operator of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline by late 2007. It then transferred tits functions to SOCAR.