By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

SOCAR Trading (subsidiary of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company - SOCAR) will export 5 million barrels of Azeri Light crude to Vietnam in the first half of 2020, local media reported.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co (BSR), which is a part of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Petrovietnam signed a contract with SOCAR Trading on November 29, 2019 for supplying oil to the Dung Quat refinery in Hanoi. Under the terms of the agreement, SOCAR Trading will supply Azeri Light brand oil to refineries in the first six months of 2020. The total supply will amount to 5 million barrels.

Speaking about the agreement, BSR CEO Bui Minh Tien emphasized that BSR and SOCAR Trading are counting on long-term cooperation on the supply of Azerbaijani oil to the Dung Quat refinery.

“At the same time, the new agreement will strengthen the friendship and partnership between Petrovietnam and SOCAR, and between Vietnam and Azerbaijan as a whole,” Tien said.

It is also noted that based on the efficiency of refining Azerbaijani oil and the zero tax rate on the import of this type of raw material, BSR included it in the list of strategic oil for its production activity in 2020 business year and subsequent years.

According to estimates, BSR can save about 800 billion dong (about $ 34.5 million) by importing a large amount of oil from Azerbaijan at a zero tax rate.

Note that Azeri Light brand oil is produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

For the first nine months of 2019, imports of Azerbaijani oil to Vietnam amounted to 139,300 tons worth $57 million 135,170. In 2018, the supply of Azerbaijani supplied Vietnam with 136,578 tons of oil amounting to $73million 638,850.

SOCAR Trading is a long-standing partner of BSR in oil supplies for the Dung Quat refinery.

Azerbaijan exported its oil to the refinery for the first time under the agreement signed between Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (Petrovietnam) in 2010.