SOCAR to boost oil shipments via Russia to 1.7 mt in 2015

"SOCAR and Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft signed a one-year contract for 2015 on transportation of 1.7 million tonnes of oil through Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline," a source close to the deal, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

He did not give reasons for the increase in oil shipments.

SOCAR had planned to halt oil exports via Russia in February 2014, opting instead to send the bulk of its crude through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and retaining some to cover rising domestic demand for oil products. The company reversed its plans later in February.

Oil exports via Russia were 1.75 million tonnes in 2013, down from 2.06 million tonnes shipped in 2012.

In May 2013, 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.