SOCAR to participate in Russian oil refinery construction
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR is negotiating participation in a project for the construction of Kuban oil refinery in Novorossiysk.
The news was announced by Azerbaijan's energy Minister Natig Aliyev on October 24.
"Yes, we are interested [in participating in the construction project of Kuban oil refinery]. Head of Rosneft Igor Sechin has held negotiations with Azerbaijan's state energy company during a recent visit to Baku, but I have no information about the results [of the talks]," he told Russian media.
Sechin was on a visit to Azerbaijan in October.
The recent summit of the Caspian littoral countries discussed Azerbaijan's participation in the Kuban oil refinery's construction to deliver Azerbaijani oil to the refinery and then sell oil products through Russian traders.
In May 2014, Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and SOCAR signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to deal with projects on exploration and production of oil and gas in various jurisdictions, including Azerbaijan and Russia.
The parties agreed to establish a joint venture on a parity basis and include the stocks/shares in mining assets in Russia, Azerbaijan, and third countries into the venture's authorized capital.
Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to the industry and public in Azerbaijan.
SOCAR produced over 8.31 million tons of oil from Azerbaijan's onshore and offshore fields in 2013, which was equal to 8.24 million tons in 2012. In total, some 43.48 million tons of oil was produced in Azerbaijan in 2013, compared to 43 million tons in 2012.