Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12
By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
The earthquake that occurred yesterday in Azerbaijan did not affect the operation of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline, spokesman of Transneft Igor Demin told reporters, Trend reports via Russian media.
Receiving oil to the system and deliveries to the refinery are being carried out according to the plan, Demin said.
However, he noted that Transneft suspended the shipment of oil and oil products for export to the port of Novorossiysk due to stormy weather.
"Yesterday at 21:30 [local time] a storm began in Novorossiysk. Wind speed reached 17 meters per second, and wave height hit 2.5 meters. All work has been stopped, the nearest “window” in the storm is possible in a day," he said.
He added that the weather is suitable to work in other ports, shipments are being carried out according to a schedule.
A 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit Azerbaijan's Aghsu district yesterday. This is the second earthquake in the region over the past few days. The previous, a 2.9 magnitude, was recorded on Feb. 9.
SOCAR pumped 1.3 million tons of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2018 compared to 1.5 million tons in 2017.
It was earlier reported that Azerbaijan plans to export 1.5 million tons of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2019.
The Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline transports oil extracted by SOCAR independently, as well as from onshore fields developed within joint ventures. SOCAR has been the operator of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline since 2008.
The Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,147 kilometers long. The length of its Azerbaijani section is 231 kilometers and Russian section - 916 kilometers. The highest capacity of the pipeline stands at 105,000 barrels a day.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS