SOCAR not yet considering investment projects in Belarus

<p> MINSK, Aug 19 - PrimePress. Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is not yet considering investment projects in Belarus, said SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmedov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “At the moment, SOCAR is not considering any investment projects, including Belarus. First of all, because now is not the best time for the company to make such decisions. The pandemic has greatly affected the energy market. Out of the ten leading oil companies in the world, six ended last year with losses. The other four had minimal profits compared to previous periods. SOCAR also did not avoid losses, although we reduced them to a possible minimum,” Ahmedov told the Belneftekhim Bulletin magazine. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In addition, along with the energy transition, the company plans to transform from a one-stage to a two-stage management form. “Therefore, in the future we are planning to make all investment decisions in the new format”, said Ahmedov. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In his words, Belarus and SOCAR have been building relations for quite a long time. The logical result was the signing of memorandum of understanding between SOCAR and state concern Belneftekhim in April 2021. “As we know, even before 2020 our Belarusian colleagues addressed SOCAR with requests for oil deliveries. Since we are geographically rather far from each other, our interaction has not always been continuous. The fundamental fact is that the cooperation is mutually beneficial,” Ahmedov said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> He added that Azerbaijan has oil and Belarus has a strong oil refining and petrochemical industries. “But the level of interaction is not limited to raw materials. SOCAR also has enough experience in refining and petrochemicals, so the cooperation may be mutually beneficial,” Ahmedov said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In his words, in recent years SOCAR investment interest was focused primarily on petrochemicals and refining, and secondly on gas distribution networks, and only thirdly on the development of a network of gas stations. </p> <p>   </p> <p> "If there is an interesting proposal from any Belarusian company (to open a petrol station network in Belarus – editor’s note), we will gladly consider it. But in the end everything will depend on the economic feasibility of the project,” Ahmedov said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Andrey Ravkov told reporters that Belarus counts on being able to fulfill its agreement with Azerbaijan to procure 1 million tons of oil in 2021. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, Belarus’ state-run concern Belneftekhim and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan SOCAR signed a memorandum on 14 Apr 2020, which provides for expansion of opportunities of the parties in production and sale of oil and oil products. </p> <p>   </p> <p> SOCAR Trading, the trading subdivision of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), reported that in 2020 it supplied Belarus with 1.038 million tonnes of oil in 10 sea tankers via the Odessa port (Ukraine) and the Odessa-Brody pipeline to the Mozyr Oil Refinery (Gomel Oblast), including 755,000 tonnes of Azeri Light oil and about 283,000 tonnes of oil bought from oil traders. Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Andrey Ravkov told reporters on 13 April 2021 that Belarus plans to buy from Azerbaijan 1 million tonnes of crude oil in 2021, while 270,000 tonnes has already been delivered. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, Belarus sought to diversify sources of crude oil supply to its refineries after a significant reduction in Russian supplies in January-March 2020 due to price disputes with major Russian oil companies. In particular, Belarus purchased oil from Azerbaijan, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the USA in 2020. End </p>

2021-08-20

Primepress