SOCAR Marketing Department and Georgia-based authorities comment on quality of diesel fuel

Baku. 27 December. REPORT.AZ/ Georgia's Environmental Protection Division and Environmental Control Department of Ministry of Agriculture inspected the quality of diesel, including the amount of lead in 240 filling stations, including those belonging to SOCAR, and took samples for examination.

Report informs that the samples have been examined in a laboratory with international accreditation. As a results of inspections, the amount of lead in the fuel meets the norms defined by the government.

The Georgian government has been inspecting the quality of fuel since 2016. They also inspect the amount of benzene, octane, sulfur and other substances.

In case of any defect, the companies are fined GEL 8,000 (more than $3,000).

The ministry says the inspections aim to prevent import of poor quality fuel and to protect environment.

According to the Georgian Oil Products Importers Union, Georgia imported 991,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel fuel in January-November. 34,600 tonnes of diesel and 46,300 tonnes of gasoline were imported in November. Georgia imported the fuel from Russia, Azerbaijan (diesel), Romania and Turkmenistan.

The SOCAR Marketing and Operations Department  stated that Azerbaijan also exports diesel fuel to Afghanistan, Turkey, Malta, Gibraltar, Lebanon. According to the information, Azerbaijan exported 409,000 tonnes of diesel in January-November: "Azerbaijan produces diesel fuel at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. Some part of the diesel fuel is for domestic need, while the rest is used for export. Different laboratorial inspections showed that SOCAR’s diesel in Georgian and Azerbaijani filing stations have the same quality and meet standards."

SOCAR operates 119 filling stations in Georgia.

The quality of the exported diesel is analyzed at the Kulevi terminal.

Swiss SGS company said that the diesel has been examined on different parameters so far: "We always control everything, starting from loading the trains to Baku, detraining in Kulevi and loading onto tankers. We have orders not only from SOCAR, but also companies buying products from SOCAR. The companies order to examine the products on various factors."

The company said that it has never faced any defect in quality so far.

The table below shows the result of inspection carried by SGS at the Kulevi terminal.

As it seems, the results of inspection made on 15 parameters met the standards.