SOCAR Trading, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), has won a tender to purchase Turkmen oil produced by Eni Turkmenistan, Report news agency reports citing Argus media.
According to the report, SOCAR Trading has returned to its portfolio some of the oil purchased by Vitol in Turkmenistan since 2017.
As a result of this tender, SOCAR Trading has surpassed the oil market giants such as ENOC, Vitol, Rosneft, Lukoil, and Trafigura.
Market participants believe that this may increase Turkmen crude supply via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline by reducing transit through Makhachkala and Novorossiysk.
Eni Turkmenistan plans to send 30,000-40,000 tons of oil, produced at Okarem field, per month in 2021, according to the news agency.
In January-November, exports of Okarem oil from Turkmenistan increased to 341,000 tons. This figure amounted to 310,000 tons in the same period last year.
The entire volume is transported by tankers in the direction of Makhachkala to Novorossiysk via the Transneft’s system.