State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Marketing and Economic Operations Department refuted the information released last week that the traders’ demand in Azerbaijani oil has declined.
The same source told Turan that at the end of December 2014- early January 2015 the company started selling February 2015 lots of oil. SOCAR sells oil from two ports – Supsa on the Black Sea and Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
SOCAR does not always sell its oil on the basis of FOB contracts, which is from the ports and through the traders. SOCAR has its own trader company and it directly delivers oil to the buyers on the basis of CIF contracts.
Last week Reuters agency reported that slump of oil prices at the world exchanges has forced the traders selling Azerbaijani Azeri Light oil to use this strange tactic. Reuters reported that the main competitor of Azerbaijani oil is Libyan oil and its price at the London exchange was $2.00-2.50 higher, than Brent oil. This is the highest index since November 2014. There was neither demand, no supply of Azerbaijani oil.
Traders said that as production of Azerbaijani oil is expected to go up in February, they will face the pressure, goal of which will be to reduce cost of Azerbaijani oil price. In January 2015 Azerbaijan will export 742,000 barrels of oil a day.
