Azerbaijan's oil exports via Russia fell 40.5 percent year on year to 593,025 tonnes in the first seven months of 2014, Azeri state energy company SOCAR said.
In 2013, Azeri exports via Russia declined to 1.75 million tonnes for the full year from 2.06 million in 2012 as domestic refineries took more crude to cover rising local demand for oil products.
SOCAR agreed with Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft in February to export 1.0-1.5 million tonnes of oil via Russia in 2014.
With that agreement, it reversed earlier plans to halt exports via Russia and send the bulk of its crude through Turkey and retain some to cover domestic demand.
In May last year, Russia terminated a contract to pump Azeri oil across its territory, ending an 18-year agreement between the two countries on the grounds that Azerbaijan had not been shipping the agreed quantities.
Oil has flowed along the 1,330 km pipeline from the Azeri capital of Baku on the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk since May under a separate standalone contract between Transneft and SOCAR.
Most Azeri oil is exported through Turkish or Georgian ports on the Black Sea, with a relatively small amount passing through Russia.
SOCAR also said on Monday that exports of oil products from Azerbaijan rose 25.8 percent to 844,304 tonnes in January-July 2014 from 671,013 tonnes in the same period last year.
(Reuters)
Bakudaily.az
