AI-95 can be produced at SOCAR's refinery in Romania where Azeri oil is delivered

Baku/14.07.22/Turan: Prices for AI-95 and AI-98 brands of gasoline rose in Azerbaijan on July 13. Petrol AI-95 rose by 40 qapiks and made up 2 manats, gasoline AI-98 rose by 40 qapiks and made up 2.30 manats.

The rise in gasoline prices is explained by the fact that this type of fuel is imported from abroad.

Some experts believe that raw materials for gasoline production are imported to some countries from Azerbaijan. Among such countries is Romania.

SOCAR told Turan that this year gasoline AI-95 has been supplied to Azerbaijan mainly from 4 countries. "In January-April, 29,981 tons of AI-95 gasoline was imported to Azerbaijan from Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkmenistan. This is down by 36 percent from a year earlier. Gasoline AI-95 is mainly imported from Romania.

SOCAR added that the drop was due to a fourfold drop in imports from Russia, one of the main supply markets. "Of the 147. 412 tons of gasoline AI-95 that we bought abroad last year, 44.5 percent went to Romania, 35.2 percent to Russia."

As for AI-98 gasoline, 267.29 tons of it was imported to Azerbaijan for $292,6200 in January-April this year. The volume of imported gasoline dropped 3.6 times as compared to the last year.

As for the Romanian issue, it was stressed that "SOCAR Romania S.A." was founded in 2011. The company is engaged in the wholesale and retail sale of petroleum products only in Romania.

It was stated that the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery in Baku continues work over a project for production of gasoline meeting Euro-5 standards in the 2nd quarter of 2023.

According to the State Customs Committee, Azerbaijan sold the most oil to Italy in the first 5 months of this year. "It exported 4,737,557.99 tons of oil worth $3,327,937.3700 to Italy. "The second place in total oil exports to Azerbaijan is held by Israel. Azerbaijan exported 1,194,565.25 tons of oil to Israel to the amount of $855,500.01 during the mentioned period. In January-May there was exported 959,145.53 tons of oil to India in the amount of $770,016.57. Great Britain sold 613.731.08 tons of oil amounting to $463.498.42.  Portugal - 428.162.99 tons of oil amounting to $607.944.06.

As for Bulgaria and Romania, the committee said that there is no information about Bulgaria in the period. "And Romania sold 170,203.55 tons of oil worth $103,202.37."

The department said that in January-May 11,383,684.99 tons of oil worth $8,058,720.31 thousand were exported to 22 countries.

Economist Natig Jafarli told Radio Azadliq that Azerbaijan purchases AI-95 and AI-98 gasoline through its subsidiary SOCAR.

According to him, the gasoline of this brand comes to Azerbaijan mainly from two countries. "These countries are Romania and Russia. Note that SOCAR has an oil refinery in Romania. However, this refinery is not run by a single company, but by a consortium together with a Romanian company."

The expert says that although Azerbaijan sells oil to Romania, it is difficult to prove that the gasoline sold to Azerbaijan is produced from this crude oil. "Because Romania also receives oil from other countries, including the Persian Gulf countries. Prior to the Russian-Ukrainian war problems, Romania  received oil from Russia as well."

He pointed out that Azerbaijan provides about 20-25 percent of Romania's oil needs. "Although Romania buys crude oil from Azerbaijan, it is not officially reported whether the refinery has a contract to buy it. But we can assume that if SOCAR has such a refinery in Romania, why not send its oil there? It would be more logical to send there the crude and refine it. But there are no documents confirming this in open sources. As for Russia, we do not sell it oil, it uses its own oil to produce gasoline.

The economist noted that gasoline AI-98 was purchased from European countries, mainly from Romania. "Its volume is just so small that it doesn't even cover 1 percent of consumption in Azerbaijan."

Recall that the cost of a barrel of Azerbaijani oil is - $15. -0-