The transition from the gas regime to the mazut regime did not allow the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to begin the exportation of the automobile benzene to Georgia from January 1, 2007 in accordance with the contract signed earlier. The benzene export in January is not intended and the volume in February has not been determined yet, Trend reports quoting the SOCAR.
Presently the Baku Oil Refinery produces more volume of mazut to produce electric power, and therefore, presently the automobile benzene is spent on only internal market, the same source said. In 2006, the SOCAR delivered a total of 20,000 tons of benzene to Saknaftobtransi.