Ambassador: Azerbaijan’s oil supplies to Ukraine should be economically viable
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan and Ukraine will examine the possibility of Azerbaijan's oil supplies to Ukrainian refineries in detail at the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.
According to Ukrainian ambassador to Azerbaijan Alexander Mishchenko, along with the political component, the commercial aspect is also very important, as it is a commercial project as well.
"We are negotiating this issue and expect that a meeting of the working group of experts will be held in the near future. I think this issue will be considered in detail at a meeting of the bilateral commission on economic cooperation, which will be tentatively held this autumn in Kiev," the ambassador said.
According to him, a working group was set up in March and is currently working both in Azerbaijan and Ukraine.
Mishchenko said earlier that there was a decline in trade turnover between the two countries last year. This was due to the suspension of the purchase of Azerbaijani oil by Ukrainian refineries. The suspension of imports was due to the fact that refineries did not economically benefit from recycling Azerbaijani oil due to their unsuitability for the processing of light oil.
Like many refineries in the post-Soviet space, Ukrainian refineries are focused on refining heavier Russian oil. In order to ensure the processing of light oil, Ukrainian refineries are currently under renovation, the ambassador said.
Earlier in April Azerbaijani Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told journalists that Azerbaijan is ready to resume deliveries of crude oil to Ukraine.
"In this case Ukraine should create appropriate preferential terms. This issue is being discussed. If Ukraine launches relevant initiatives, Azerbaijan is ready to resume deliveries of crude oil," Aliyev said.
According to him, Azerbaijan suspended oil exports to Ukraine in 2012 due to the establishment of the Customs Union and the deliveries of Russian oil to Belarus at lower prices.
During a two-day visit to Baku in March, the Ukrainian side proposed Azerbaijan to refine oil at the Ukrainian oil refineries upon a toll manufacturing scheme. It is planned to refine oil at oil refineries in Odessa and Kremenchug cities of Ukraine.
The volume of the Azerbaijani oil delivered to Ukraine was 1.5
million tons in 2011.
The two countries signed intergovernmental documents on cooperation
in the field of oil transportation through the territory of Ukraine
in Davos in January 2011.
Trade turnover between Ukraine and Azerbaijan amounted to $900 million in 2012.