Tanker Minerva Astra delivered 81 thousand tons of Azerbaijan oil for Belarus at the Ukrainian port "Yuzhni" on Saturday, January 29. This was stated by the press-secretary of the Belarusian Oil Company (BOC) Andrei Sinitsa. According to him, the oil is now being poured into onshore storage tanks to be later directed to the main pipelines system of Ukrtransnafta.
Under the contract, signed between CJSC Belarusian Oil Company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), 4 million tons of oil will be delivered to Belarus in 2011. Hydrocarbons will be delivered to the Ukrainian port «Yuzhni» with further deliveries to Mazyr refinery through «Odessa-Brody» and «Druzhba» pipelines.
According to Andrei Sinitsa, processing of the high-quality oil Azeri Light at the Belarusian refineries will generate additional revenue. BOC representative also noted that those supplies gave start for a long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation, BelTA informs.
Andrei Sinitsa also explained that the Azeri oil deliveries to Belarus will be implemented simultaneously with the supply of raw materials from Venezuela.
As Telegraf previously reported, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with the president of SOCAR on November 19 and offered a swap scheme for Azeri oil supplies to Belarus. Belneftekhim Vice Chairman Bronislav Sivyi said on December 21 that the Belarusian authorities were planning to get Azerbaijan oil beginning from March 2011.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Venezuela to Belarus Americo Diaz Nunez said on January 6 that Venezuela might purchase additional oil from Azerbaijan to execute a delivery contract with Belarus. «PDVSA oil company will purchase an additional amount of oil in Azerbaijan to ensure the execution of the contract with Belarus for the supply of up to ten million tons of oil a year,» said the ambassador.
According to the diplomat, the oil will flow to Belarus through Odessa-Brody oil pipeline. What is more, the Belarusian side will pay Azerbaijan only for oil delivery, but not for the oil itself.
