Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 12
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is aimed at long-term cooperation with the trading company LITASCO, Adnan Ahmadzade, head of SOCAR’s Marketing and Economic Operations Department, told reporters in Baku Oct. 12.
According to him, relevant negotiations are underway to pump oil from the Vladimir Filanovsky offshore field in the Caspian Sea that is developed by LUKOIL PJSC.
There are main economic factors, said Ahmadzada adding that currently, SOCAR is negotiating with LITASCO.
“In principle, a short-term contract is concluded every year. We appreciated each other as partners. If agreements are reached, we plan to switch to a long-term contract – this is for three to five years, and negotiations are also underway on Filanovsky field in order to send some part of oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC),” added the SOCAR representative.
He noted that SOCAR is ready to accept as much oil as possible.
“As you know, BTC is not used at full capacity. We have opportunity to pump up to 60 million tons of oil per year, and we pump about 35 million tons,” said Ahmadzade adding that in other words, SOCAR can freely accept additional 15 million tons.
“They have agreements with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) for pumping, but negotiations are also underway to consider the possibility of alternative routes for the export of one to two million tons,” he noted.
According to him, currently, about two million tons of oil is pumped per year from the Yuri Korchagin field through the BTC.
The total length of the BТС is 1,768 kilometers, including a 443-kilometer section running through Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometer section in Georgia and a 1,076-kilometer section in Turkey.
Construction of the pipeline started in 2003. It was filled with oil in 2005.
BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1 percent), AzBTC (25 percent), Chevron (8.9 percent), Statoil (8.71 percent), ТРАО (6.53 percent), Eni (5 percent), Total (5 percent), Itochu (3.4 percent), Inpex (2.5 percent), CIECO (2.5 percent) and ONGC (2.36 percent).