Successful development of oil and gas industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as growing positions of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) in the global energy market is reflected on scope of activities of SOCAR Marketing and Operations (SOCAR MO). President Ilham Aliyev’s policy on economical development of the country, his special attention to the oil and gas industry which is an integral part of our national economy, are key factors that determine SOCAR MO’s current activities and future projects.
SOCAR MO is mainly engaged in exporting crude oil and oil products of Azerbaijan origin to the world market in accordance with the export strategy of SOCAR, arranging sales based on the country’s domestic demand for oil products, conducting marketing researches, studying new export markets, implementing coordination functions on ensuring control over delivery and acceptance of hydrocarbon volumes of Joint Ventures and Operating Companies producing crude oil at SOCAR fields.
In 2014 SOCAR MO exported 24.5 million tons of crude oil within the frame of its export contracts. The more Azeri crude oil is exported, the more Department’s marketing policy and strategy requires the further improvement to continue development of export operations and strengthening the position of Azeri oil in global energy market. Therefore, establishment of cooperation with new clients and large-scale refinery companies and introducing Azeri origin crude oil in new potential energy markets are of a high importance.
During past years, SOCAR MO’s crude oil export network has been expanded to over than 30 countries, such as USA, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, Japan, Mediterranean and North-West European countries.
Since December 2007 Geneva based SOCAR Trading SA has been operating in the direction of strengthening SOCAR’s positions in the global energy market and transforming the company to one of the biggest players. Operating for 7 years, the company expanded its activities by establishing offices in Singapore, Turkey (Istanbul), UAE (Dubai), Monaco, Egypt (Cairo), Nigeria (Lagos) and United Kingdom (London).
It is worth mentioning that SOCAR Trading SA is actively developing its trading activity by engaging in the trade of hydrocarbon resources of non-Azerbaijani origin. Currently more than 40% of the total volume of oil and oil products trade of SOCAR Trading SA falls on the trade of third party volumes.
Along with this, construction of the oil products storage terminal meeting modern standards with the capacity of 665,000 cubic meters started in the port of Fujairah of the United Arab Emirates in October 2010 in accordance with the agreement signed between SOCAR Trading SA and the Swiss Trading House Aurora Progress S.A. SOCAR Aurora Fujairah Terminal started to operate in March 2012 (12 out of 26 commodity tanks with the capacity of 350,000 cubic meters are currently in operation). The Terminal is capable to store various oil products of different companies as well as splitting large volumes of fuel into much smaller consignments and blending oil products in commodity tanks. Moreover, the terminal may be used as loading terminal (loading oil products from tanks into vessels and transporting them to other tanks located in the area of the port).
Along with export of Azeri crude oil SOCAR MO is also engaged in realization of Azeri origin oil products on the international market. Oil products of Azerbaijan origin are exported to numerous countries such as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Gibraltar, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, Bahamas etc. The company regularly conducts necessary surveys on recent trends in order to adapt export policy and strategy to latest developments.
At the same time, with the direct participation of SOCAR MO, “SOCAR Overseas LLC” and “SOCAR Trading Middle East DMCC” Kazakh and Turkmen origin raw materials are delivered to the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev for further refining. The refined products are further being exported.
Establishment of SOCAR Energy Georgia in 2006 was one of the most important measures undertaken to increase efficiency of export operations and strengthen SOCAR’s positions in foreign markets. Since then the company is actively engaged in sale of SOCAR’s oil products in Georgian market which is one of the major consumers of Azerbaijani oil products. During 2014, SOCAR MO supplied 261.1 thousand tons of various oil products to SOCAR Energy Georgia for realization on the Georgian market.
Moreover, since 2008 the company expanded its activities by establishing 114 gas stations in Georgia.
SOCAR-branded gas stations are operating not only in Georgia, but also in Ukraine (50), Romania (32), Switzerland (149) and Azerbaijan (19).
Most part of oil products exported within the frame of contracts signed by SOCAR MO is supplied to the world markets through the SOCAR-owned Kulevi Terminal (Georgia) situated on the shore of the Black Sea. In 2014, 724 thousand tons of gasoil L-62 (D-01) (73% of total export of gasoil) were exported to the global energy market through Kulevi Terminal.
Apart from export of crude oil and oil products of Azerbaijan origin to the world markets, SOCAR MO is also engaged in sale of oil products on the domestic market. The sale of oil products on the domestic market is conducted by means of two oil bases.
Moreover, to meet the domestic demand for Euro-5 standard gasoline A-95 and A-98 SOCAR MO imported 34.5 thousand tons of gasoline A-95 from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and Lithuania, and 0.8 thousand tons of gasoline A-98 from Greece during 2014. Due to the planned maintenance at SOCAR’s refineries in 2014, 102.6 thousand tons of Euro-5 standard gasoline A-92 was imported from Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Russia to the Republic of Azerbaijan by SOCAR MO to meet the demand for gasoline A-92 in the country.
SOCAR MO and its subdivisions were successfully certified for the second term in accordance with requirements of international health and safety (OHSAS 18001:2007), environmental protection (ISO 14001:2004) standards and for the third term in accordance with requirements of quality management system (ISO 9001:2008) standards. Besides, international auditors positively evaluated the work performed in this direction.
