BAKU, January 22. /TASS/. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) continues negotiations on oil supplies to Belarus, SOCAR department head Ibragim Akhmedov told TASS on Wednesday.
"Negotiations continue," the company’s spokesperson said. The Odessa-Brody oil pipeline is viewed as an option for deliveries, Akhmedov pointed out. "Odessa-Brody is considered as one of the options. If oil supplies [to Belarus] take place, the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline can be an option," he stated. This does not refer to supplies of the Azerbaijani oil specifically, the spokesperson noted.
"It can be any oil. Everything depends on conditions and agreements," Akhmedov added.
Several years ago, Azerbaijan supplied its oil to the Mozyr Refinery in Belarus over the Odessa-Brody pipeline.
Belarus-Russia oil supplies talks
Minsk and Moscow have been negotiating the supply of Russian hydrocarbons to Belarus. On December 30-31, 2019, Presidents of Belarus and Russia Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, discussed this issue by telephone.
Following the talks, Lukashenko instructed the authorities to conclude contracts with companies from Russia for the supply of oil in 2020 to ensure the smooth operation of two Belarusian oil refineries, but no documents were signed by January 1.
At the same time, Lukashenko instructed the leadership of the petrochemical complex to work out options for alternative supplies of hydrocarbons.
On January 3, Belarus' Belneftekhim concern stated that the supplies of Russian oil were not being conducted. The loading of the oil refineries was reduced to the minimum technologically permissible level. On January 4, one-time contracts for the supply of oil to Belarusian refineries were resumed.
According to a TASS source familiar with the negotiations between the companies, a schedule for Russian oil supplies to Belarus has been signed, and it is planned to deliver about 600,000 tonnes of oil by the end of the month. On January 20, it became known that Belarus had bought 80,000 tonnes of oil from Norway.