Azerbaijan increases oil output amidst new pipeline route claims
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Monday, December 3
Azerbaijani officials have flatly denied Russian media claims of a decrease in the transit capacity of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, saying they even plan to step up oil production.
The thorny issue of oil transport routes has also resurfaced. The same Russian media sources say that the West plans to divert the Baku–Ceyhan section of the pipeline so as to skirt Armenia, though other analysts do not rule out the possibility of increasing Azerbaijani oil production via Russian territory.
In October, according to Russian media reports, the oil capacity of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline was down 3 percent on previous months, a tendency they claim will be maintained for the next few months.
Georgian analysts refute this.
“The Russian media reports are simply untrue. The Baku–Supsa oil pipeline has been more or less out of order this year, meaning all this oil passed through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline instead. Additionally, Azerbaijan has sharply increased local output, so there’s no question of a reduction,” the chairman of the Georgian Union of Petroleum-Product Producers, Importers and Consumers, Vano Mtvralashvili, told the newspaper Rezonansi.
According to the Russian news agency Regnum, in 2008, Azerbaijan plans to produce 50 million tons of oil. Output from the Neftianye Kamni field will increase 1.5-fold (from 821 000 tons to 1.2 million tons), for instance.
On the issue of oil transit routes, some Russian websites claim the West is planning to reroute the Baku–Ceyhan section of the pipeline so as to skirt northern Armenia at Giumri, before continuing to Erzurum in Turkey.
The thorny issue of oil transport routes has also resurfaced. The same Russian media sources say that the West plans to divert the Baku–Ceyhan section of the pipeline so as to skirt Armenia, though other analysts do not rule out the possibility of increasing Azerbaijani oil production via Russian territory.
In October, according to Russian media reports, the oil capacity of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline was down 3 percent on previous months, a tendency they claim will be maintained for the next few months.
Georgian analysts refute this.
“The Russian media reports are simply untrue. The Baku–Supsa oil pipeline has been more or less out of order this year, meaning all this oil passed through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline instead. Additionally, Azerbaijan has sharply increased local output, so there’s no question of a reduction,” the chairman of the Georgian Union of Petroleum-Product Producers, Importers and Consumers, Vano Mtvralashvili, told the newspaper Rezonansi.
According to the Russian news agency Regnum, in 2008, Azerbaijan plans to produce 50 million tons of oil. Output from the Neftianye Kamni field will increase 1.5-fold (from 821 000 tons to 1.2 million tons), for instance.
On the issue of oil transit routes, some Russian websites claim the West is planning to reroute the Baku–Ceyhan section of the pipeline so as to skirt northern Armenia at Giumri, before continuing to Erzurum in Turkey.