Azerbaijan has sent an application to Russia’s PJSC Transneft, the operator of main oil pipelines, to increase oil pumping through the northern pipeline in 2022 to 1.209 million tons from 1.09 million tons planned for the current year, a source in the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR)

"We sent an application to Transneft on the planned volumes of oil pumping for 2022 in the amount of 1.209 million tons. In 2021, our forecast for transit in the northern direction is 1.09 million tons,” the source said.

Azerbaijan has been transporting its oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline since November 1997. At the end of January, Transneft and SOCAR signed an agreement for pumping more than 1 million tons of oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline in 2021.

Oil transportation via the northern pipeline in January-July 2021 amounted to 583,290 tons, and in July – 84,740 tons. The same volume is expected to be transported in August this year. Compared to January-July last year, the volume of Azerbaijani oil exports through Baku-Novorossiysk increased 19.7 times.

Oil exports via the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline in 2020 amounted to 613,290 tons.