Azerbaijan to resume oil exports via Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline

Azerbaijan plans to resume crude oil exports via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline from July 1, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan’s (SOCAR) Vice President Elshad Nassirov said.

Speaking on the sidelines of an annual Caspian Oil and Gas conference, he said that the country had already applied for the resumption of exports.

Nassirov noted that oil export volumes in July were expected to be 80,000 tonnes, with a further increase in the following months, Reuters reported.

SOCAR stopped supplies to Russia’s port of Novorossiisk in March, saying planned maintenance on the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline started on March 1, and cancelled the loading of two 80,000-tonne cargoes. The company diverted crude flows to its own Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline after the suspension of transit via Russia.