Azerbaijan's oil exports via Russia fell 40.6 percent year on year to 338,812 tonnes in the first four months of 2014, Azeri state energy company SOCAR told Reuters.
In full-year 2013, Azeri exports via Russia declined to 1.75 million tonnes from 2.06 million in 2012 as Azeri refineries took more crude to cover rising domestic 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, reversing plans to halt exports.
SOCAR had previously planned to halt oil exports via Russia in February-March, opting instead to send the bulk of its crude through Turkey and retaining 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.
LESS OIL VIA BTC
Oil exports through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) via Georgia and Turkey were 9.4 million tonnes in January-April this year, down from 9.7 million tonnes in the same period last year, a source at SOCAR said.
He said the decline in the first four months was linked to lower output at main oilfields Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG).
Falling output at ACG oilfields - the biggest oil production project in Azerbaijan and one of the largest globally for oil major BP - has raised concerns in Baku.
BP and partner Azeri state energy firm SOCAR have tried to calm those fears by saying last year production had stabilised. Total oil output grew last year for the first time since 2011.
BP said earlier this year that oil production at ACG might be slightly lower than in 2013 as the company planned maintenance work at the Central Azeri and West Azeri platforms, halting operations for a couple of weeks.
The company did not say when the work would start.
SOCAR source said another reason for the export decline was a reduction of oil exports from Turkmenistan to 943,082 tonnes from 1.04 million tonnes a year ago.
"Oil supplies from Kazakhstan, which started to use BTC for exports from the beginning of this year, helped to compensate a decline in total exports," the source added.
Kazakhstan shipped 990,725 tonnes of oil via BTC from the beginning of 2014.
Bakudaily.az
