Azerbaijan cuts forecast of oil shipments via Russia to 825\,000 T in 2019

Azerbaijan cuts forecast of oil shipments via Russia to 825,000 T in 2019

SOCAR stopped supplies to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk after planned maintenance on the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline started on March 1, and cancelled the loading of two 80,000-tonne cargoesReuters  |  September 17, 2019, 15:11 IST
Azerbaijan cuts forecast of oil shipments via Russia to 825,000 T in 2019 BAKU: Azerbaijan cut its forecast of shipments via Russia to 825,000 tonnes in 2019 from a previous estimate of 1.3 million tonnes due to pipeline maintenance this year, a source at Azeri state energy firm SOCAR told Reuters.

SOCAR stopped supplies to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk after planned maintenance on the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline started on March 1, and cancelled the loading of two 80,000-tonne cargoes.

The company diverted crude flows to its own Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline after the suspension of transit via Russia.

Shipments resumed in July and SOCAR shipped 79,900 tonnes in July and almost the same amount in August.

Oil exports via Russia in the first two months of this year totalled 164,800 tonnes.

SOCAR plans to increase crude oil shipments via Russia to 1.325 million tonnes in 2020.

SOCAR shipped 1.299 million tonnes of oil via Russia in 2018, down from 1.576 million tonnes in 2017.

Azerbaijan sends only a small portion of its oil exports via Russia, using routes through Georgia and Turkey for the bulk of its crude shipments.

SOCAR's crude has a lower sulphur content than Russia's Urals blend. The company receives crude from Russian pipeline monopoly AK Transneft to fill its loading slots at the Novorossiisk oil terminal.