Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR decided to transport oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline instead of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline.

The transportation via BTC is launched from February 15.

The company reported SOCAR will further negotiate with Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft -- the operator of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline's Russian section -on the work of the pipeline.

Earlier, both announced that they are still interested in the continuation of oil pumping via the pipeline.

The contract for transiting Azerbaijan's oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline through the territory of its giant northern neighbor, in effect for 17 years, was revoked in early May.

The Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline transported the oil produced by SOCAR independently, as well as from onshore fields developed within joint enterprises. Azerbaijan's oil is being shipped from the Novorossiysk port under the name of the Russian export blend, URALS.

SOCAR said earlier that Baku will continue to transit oil through the pipeline if it is economically feasible. Otherwise, the supply will come to a halt.

The total length of the BТС pipeline, which carries crude oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast, is 1,768 kilometers, including the 443 kilometer section running via Azerbaijan, the 249 kilometer section via Georgia and 1,076 kilometers via Turkey.