Transneft's restrictions on oil pumping won't affect SOCAR

The restrictions imposed yesterday by the Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft on receiving oil into its pipeline system will not affect the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).

Report informs, citing its sources in the government, that the batches of oil sent to the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline are intended for specific buyers and are loaded onto a tanker upon reaching the sea berths in the port of Novorossiysk without delay.

"We always have a tanker from the buyer for any batch of oil that is pumped through the Russian Federation through the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline. Our oil is not actually stored at the terminal, and Transneft's restrictions will not affect us," the sources said.

Transneft has introduced restrictions on the acceptance of oil into its oil pipeline system for those companies that do not have a specific buyer, since the company's storage facilities in the ports of shipment are full.

In April, Azerbaijan plans to send 85,000 tons of oil through the Russian Federation, and subsequent volumes will be agreed.

One tanker is being loaded in Novorossiysk, which will take 80,000 tons of Azerbaijani oil by the beginning of April. In February, 160,000 tons of oil (two tanker shipments) were exported through Baku-Novorossiysk, and 80,000 tons in January.

In 2021, 1.08 million tons of oil were transported through this oil pipeline. This number is expected to be about 1.3 million tons in 2022.

Azerbaijan began exporting its oil via the northern route in autumn 1997.