16:37 - 24.04.2025

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April 24, Fineko/abc.az. The Baku–Supsa oil pipeline offers key competitive advantages to companies whose crude characteristics make it particularly well‑suited for processing at refineries located along the Black Sea coast, Rufat Gambarov, Head of Business Development at SOCAR Midstream Operations, said during the Caspian and Central Asia Oil trading and logistics forum in Baku.

He recalled that the pipeline was commissioned on April 17, 1999.

"At present, for well‑known reasons, crude transport through the pipeline has been suspended. However, the route remains attractive to producers and traders—especially given its suitability for supplying refineries in Bulgaria and Romania," he noted.

Gambarov added that, considering the crude's chemical composition and the supporting infrastructure on the Black Sea, the Baku–Supsa line maintains long‑term strategic significance.

"We are confident that, over time, the circumstances that led to the suspension will change. SOCAR Midstream, as part of SOCAR and, more broadly, in the interests of the state, is ready to consider proposals for the pipeline's further use," he said.

The 837 km, 530 mm‑diameter pipeline—built as part of the Azeri‑Chirag‑Gunashli field development—has a design throughput capacity of 7.5 million tonnes of crude per year.