Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has started exporting petroleum products through Russian territory, a source in Azerbaijan's energy market told Trend on March 31.
The source said that currently, SOCAR exports two types of petroleum products: diesel fuel and vacuum gas oil.
To date, around 40,000 metric tons of petroleum products (10,000 metric tons of diesel fuel and 30,000 metric tons of vacuum gas oil) have been exported via the new route, according to the source.
However, the source didn't name the countries to which the oil products are exported via the new route.
SOCAR exported 127,330 metric tons of petroleum products in January 2015, compared to 88,260 metric tons in the same period of 2014.
The company exported 1.2 million metric tons of petroleum products in 2014, compared to about 1.05 million metric tons in the same period of 2013.
Earlier, the petroleum products were produced at two oil refineries in Baku. Both plants were part of SOCAR, which annually processes approximately seven million metric tons of oil produced onshore and offshore with company's own funds.
SOCAR announced about the liquidation of Azneftyag oil refinery and its merger with the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev in December 2014.
Georgia imports a significant part of Azerbaijan's petroleum products.
Edited by CN
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov