Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The oil swap deal signed between the National Iranian Oil Company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will enter into force soon, Fars News Agency reported Feb. 26 citing Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi as saying.
"Iran is about to resume oil swap with Azerbaijan after a gap of five years, importing crude into Caspian ports and supplying equivalent barrels on behalf of its Azeri partners in the Persian Gulf," he said. "The two sides will also cooperate in the Caspian Sea, particularly in the spheres of research and development."
He said the oil swap deal has been signed between the National Iranian Oil Company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).
This comes as Iran plans to resume swap of oil products, primarily natural gas liquids, with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan as well, the Iranian agency reported.
The port of Neka in northern Iran has an import capacity for crude swaps with the Caspian states of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia.
The Caspian oil swap started in 1997 and was in place for more than 12 years.
Under the arrangement, Iran received crude from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in Neka for processing in its northern refineries and delivered an equivalent volume to the clients of those countries in the Persian Gulf.
The average daily swap was 90,000 barrels in 2009, which Iran planned to raise to 300,000 barrels per day by 2015. Iran also charged the partners with a transit fee which totaled $880 million between 1997 and 2009.