Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 6 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
Bishkek plans to buy petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) from an oil refinery of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), construction of which is planned in Kyrgyzstan, the head of the Oil Traders Association of Kyrgyzstan Jumakadyr Akeneev told Trend on Monday.
The agreement on the construction of refineries was reached on January 19 at a meeting of the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev and SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev. The refinery is scheduled for commissioning in the end of 2013.
"Unfortunately, the price for Azerbaijani POL, transported directly from the country is not acceptable for Kyrgyzstan," Akeneev said. "But if the SOCAR refinery is constructed and Azerbaijan's oil is refined in Kyrgyzstan, the price will become acceptable and Bishkek will buy Azerbaijan's POL."
Now POL's export price in Azerbaijan is $800 per ton, while the expenditure for their transportation from Azerbaijan to Kyrgyzstan is $200 per ton, Akeneev said.
Kyrgyzstan buys POL from Russia and other countries for $750 per ton including transportation expenditures, he added.
"So, the price for POL, which is directly transported from Azerbaijan to Kyrgyzstan is 46 soms per liter, while POL's retail price in Kyrgyzstan is 38 soms per liter," Akeneev said.
Working group from Azerbaijan will visit Kyrgyzstan in the framework of the construction at the end of the February. The group together with experts from Kyrgyzstan would consider the region in which a new venture can be constructed.
The refinery with the capacity of 2 million tons is expected to refine Azerbaijani oil in the future. The construction of the plant is part of the SOCAR policy to increase geographical coverage.
The minimum cost of the refinery, which the SOCAR is planning to build in Kyrgyzstan, is $100 million.
SOCAR includes the Azneft production association, the Azerkimya industrial association and the Azerigaz industrial association.
SOCAR is the only oil product producer in the country and also gas stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine. SOCAR is the co-owner of the Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim. The company carries out oil trading in various regions through SOCAR Trading.