Azeri oil shipments via Russia fall 53 pct in Jan-May

SOCAR resumed oil exports via the Baku-Novorossiisk oil pipeline on March 1 after SOCAR and Russian pipeline monopoly AK Transneft TRNF_p.MM signed an agreement on shipments on Feb. 25, following a three month hiatus while they were working on a new deal.

The overall volume of shipments of Azeri crude through Russia is expected at 1.3 million tonnes this year.

SOCAR's crude has a lower sulphur content than Russia's Urals blend. The company receives crude from Transneft to fill its loading slots at the Novorossiisk oil terminal.