SOCAR seeks new crude customers
By Gulgiz Dadashova
Azerbaijan’s SOCAR announced that it constantly searches new sale markets for crude oil produced in the country, while oil prices languish near $30 a barrel on the global markets.
The country produces three grades of crude oil—Azeri BTC, Azeri Light, mainly sold to European and Asian markets, and Urals, Azerbaijani light crude sold at a discount as it blended in Russia. Bulk of the country’s oil is marketed by Socar Trading, which has been operating since 2008.
The country’s energy giant noted that there is a general rule that the diversification of sale markets provides security of the seller country and creates superiority for seller in transaction process, namely establishes condition for determining more favorable price.
“Therefore, despite changes observed in the world market, SOCAR constantly searches new markets for Azerbaijani oil,” the company told local media.
AZERI LT oil produced at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields on the basis of CIF in the Italian port of Augusta was $35.79 per barrel on January 7. AZERI Light FOB Ceyhan oil price was $34.71 per barrel or $0.02 per barrel more than the previous price. The price for URALS-NOVO was $30.29 per barrel, or $0.18 more than the previous price.
The company further added that offers of new buyers are analyzed and comparison is made. “Our analysts are studying the dynamics and demand of different markets. These processes are provided on a regular basis.”
Azerbaijan has produced 38.32 million tons of oil and gas condensate in January-November 2015, or 0.5 percent less than in the same period in 2014, the State Statistics Committee reported.
The country's largest hydrocarbon basins are located offshore in the Caspian Sea, particularly the Azeri Chirag Guneshli (ACG) field. Similar to its share of total production, ACG also holds over 70% of Azerbaijan's total reserves, with about 5 billion barrels located in this field.
SOCAR produces about 20% of the country's oil output. The remaining 80% of Azerbaijan's output comes from the ACG oil fields by the BP-operated Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) and at the BP-operated Shah Deniz field (which produces oil condensate).
Azerbaijan exports oil through four routes – the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa (western route) and Baku-Novorossiysk (northern route), as well as by rail.
In 2015, the company exported about 17.93 million tons from the Turkish Ceyhan port compared to 20.48 million tons in 2014. SOCAR exported over 2.79 million tons of oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline compared to 2.96 million tons in 2014. It transported 1.27 million tons of "black gold" in the northern direction (Baku-Novorossiysk) for the reporting period compared to 932.15 million tons in 2014.
Azerbaijan exports not only crude oil, but also petroleum products. The only producer of oil products is SOCAR, which owns Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev.
Azerbaijan’s oil products are exported to countries such as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, the Bahamas and more.
SOCAR exported about 1.23 million tons of oil products in 2015compared to about 1.2 million tons in 2014. Most of the export fell on diesel fuel, which last year were exported in the amount of 965,790.
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