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Belarus, Azerbaijan Mull Joint Oil Extraction Projects
Belarus, Azerbaijan Mull Joint Oil Extraction Projects Prime-Tass Belarus and Azerbaijan consider joint projects to produce oil in Azerbaijan, a source close to the government told Prime-Tass. A delegation of Belneftekhim specialists discussed the possibility of joint development of oil fields in Azerbaijan. “Belarusian specialists are ready to offer new oil production technologies to increase the efficiency of old deposits, and take part in the development of new oil fields,” the source said. Belarus’ Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky is expected to visit Azerbaijan in late March. “The prime minister may continue discussing the projects,” the source added. Besides, the issue of trade and economic cooperation has been already considered at a meeting of Belarus’ Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky and Azerbaijani Ambassador to Belarus Ali Teimur ogly Nagiyev on Wednesday. “Azerbaijan requires Belarusian technologies and machines. There are excellent prospects in other sectors, too,” the ambassador said. According to him, trade between the two countries “may double and triple even without large-scale energy projects that Belarus and Azerbaijan are discussing now.” “Ukraine appears quite interested in Belarusian-Azerbaijani energy projects, and Poland has also joined the talks,” he said. Sidorsky confirmed he planned to pay a visit to Azerbaijan in late March. “We had a telephone conversation with the Azerbaijani Prime Minister and agreed that we might meet in Baku in late March to hold a session of the trade and economic council and address trade and economic opportunities,” Sidorsky said. Joint projects of the kind are normally approved at the top level, the source said, adding that President Alexander Lukashenko was expected to pay a visit to Azerbaijan in early May. A large exposition of Belarusian products will be held in Azerbaijan at that time. In October 2006, Lukashenko met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev to address the possibility of importing crude oil from Azerbaijan, providing transit to the Baltic States and Europe and taking part in joint oil extraction in Azerbaijan. Lukashenko said joint oil production was agreed in principle. Specialists note that Azerbaijani oil would cost Belarus more than Russian oil in any case, as Russia imposes a lower export duty on crude supplies to Belarus [U.S. $53 per tonne compared with $180]. Besides, it is hard to transport Azerbaijani oil to Belarus, as Russia’s transport company Transneft controls all oil supplies to Belarus. There is a technical possibility of supplying oil to Belarus using another route – the Belarusian Druzhba and Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody – however, the project would require a connection of the pipelines, and Belarusian experts have not pondered over the project yet. It appears Belarus is only interested in Azerbaijani oil to be able to diversify oil imports. At present all oil supplies to Belarus are from Russia. 20 Марта, 2007 |
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