Termination of Russian-Azerbaijani oil transit agreement to take effect in 2014 - source
BAKU. May 15 (Interfax) - The termination of Russian-Azerbaijani agreement on transit of Azerbaijani oil on the Baku-Novorissiisk export pipeline through Russia will take effect no earlier than 2014, a source at State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (Socar) told Interfax.
"The agreement on transit of Azerbaijani oil through Russia renews automatically every year if neither party lodges an objection. The agreement was automatically extended for 2013. Therefore, the Russian government's decision to terminate it cannot affect our transit operations this year. This termination will take effect beginning next year," the source said.
Socar has filed to ship 1.8 million tonnes of crude oil on Baku-Novorossiisk in 2013, he said.
Meanwhile, a senior Azerbaijani parliamentarian said the Russian-Azerbaijani oil transit agreement would lose force six months after its termination.
"Under the terms of the agreement, either side has the right to withdraw from it. In the event of its termination, the document loses legal force six months after termination," parliamentary deputy speaker Valekh Aleskerov, the chairman of the natural resources, energy and ecology committee, told Interfax.
Commenting on the reason for the termination, Aleskerov said: "The Russian side knows the real reasons for terminating the agreement."
On May 14, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the order to terminate the agreement, which was signed in 1996.
Later that day, a Socar spokesman said the company had received no notification of termination from the Russia side.
Under the terms of the inter-state agreement, the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline through Russia is to transport at least 5 million tonnes of Azerbaijani crude annually for a tariff equal to $15.67 per tonne.
Socar began shipping oil on Baku-Novorossiisk since 1997. It exported 2 million tonnes on the pipeline in 2012.
