Azeri state energy company SOCAR and Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft have agreed on a new, more flexible transit policy for Azerbaijan's oil exports via Russia, Azerbaijan's industry and energy minister said. Azerbaijan has used the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline for its oil exports since 1997 along with four other ports: Supsa, Batumi and Kulevi in Georgia and Ceyhan in Turkey.
"We agreed with Transneft to apply a more flexible tariff policy, which envisages lower tariffs on shipments of big volumes of oil, instead of a single tariff of $15.67 per tonne," Natik Aliyev told reporters on Wednesday. "The Russian company now says that it makes no difference for them which brand of transit oil will be shipped through the pipeline," Aliyev said.
Transneft had previously wanted just Azeri Light to be exported via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline. Azerbaijan's oil exports via Russia fell to 1.99 million tonnes in 2011, down from 2.24 million tonnes in 2010. The decline was mainly caused by an increase in oil supplies to Azeri refineries due to rising domestic consumption of oil products and repair works at one of the sections of the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline. SOCAR said in October last year crude shipments via Russia, which make up a relatively small part of total Azeri exports, would fall to 1.7 million tonnes in 2012.
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