Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia rises 10.1% in 2024

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia rose 10.1% year-on-year to nearly $4.8 billion in 2024, Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee (SCC) told Interfax.

SCC data indicate that trade operations with Russia accounted for 10.1% of Azerbaijan's overall foreign trade turnover in 2024, placing Russia third among Azerbaijan's foreign trade partners after Italy and Turkey.

The volume of Azerbaijan's exported products to Russia decreased 1.5% year-on-year to $1.178 billion in the year. Overall deliveries to Russia accounted for 4.4% of Azerbaijan's exports, placing Russia third, up from sixth in 2023, among the countries to which Azerbaijan exported products in 2024.

Russia is also the largest buyer of Azerbaijan's non-oil products at a share of 34.6%, with supplies increasing 4.3% year-on-year to $1.162 billion.

Imports of Russia's products to Azerbaijan increased 14.5% year-on-year to $3.621 billion, with Azerbaijan's share of imports from Russia accounting for 17.2% in the overall volume, placing Russia second after China.

SCC data thus indicate that Azerbaijan's negative trade balance in export-import relations with Russia totaled $2.443 billion in 2024.

As reported, Azerbaijan-Russia trade turnover rose 17.5% year-on-year to $4.359 billion in 2023.

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SOCAR Turkiye Enerji, the Turkish subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR), and the Turkish company Nakkas Holding have signed an agreement to develop railway logistics for transporting SOCAR's products, as well as to cooperate in trading and storing aviation fuel, Turkish media reported, as per Interfax.

"SOCAR Turkiye Enerji and Nakkas Holding signed a protocol on long-term cooperation on Tuesday, which covers the development of logistics using railway transportation for SOCAR's products, as well as the creation of a facility for trading and storing aviation fuel at Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Istanbul)," a statement said.

The document was signed by SOCAR Turkiye Enerji President Elchin Ibadov and Nakkas Holding Board Chairman Ramazan Ozturk.

"This strategic partnership is seen as an important step towards further strengthening economic and trade relations between the two brotherly nations of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The protocol once again underscores both companies' commitment to implementing similar projects in the future. SOCAR Turkiye and Nakkas Holding aim to develop initiatives that create economic added value by combining their knowledge and expertise in the relevant sectors," the statement said.

Nakkas Holding was founded in 2023 and consolidates 16 companies operating in four key sectors - oil and petroleum products, renewable energy, industrial investment and mining. It has operated for more than 40 years. Its companies include Transpet Petrolculuk ve Enerji, GTS Investments BV, Global Terminal Services, SAVES Enerji, GGG Petrolleri, Be Aero, Turk Ytong and Nakkas Mining.

SOCAR Turkiye Enerji owns a 51% controlling stake in Petkim Petrokimya Holding. The company also built the STAR Oil Refinery in Turkey, a container terminal and a power plant, and it supplies gas to the domestic market and petroleum products to fueling stations at airports in several major Turkish cities.

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The European Union should stop imposing sanctions on Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban said, as per Interfax.

"The time for change has come," Orban said on the X social network.

"The sanctions engineered by the Brussels bureaucrats achieved one thing: they destroyed the competitiveness of the European economy," he said.

The sanctions did not help stop the Ukraine conflict and had no impact on Russia's economic development, while Europe failed to replace Russian energy it had rejected, Orban said.

We remind, Russia has become the leading natural gas supplier to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "China is a major consumer of Russian energy resources. We retain the first place in terms of the volume of oil exports to China. Five years ago, you and I together launched the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, and today, Russia has taken the lead in natural gas supplies to China," Putin said. The Power of Siberia pipeline reached a planned level of 38 billion cubic meters of annual gas supply on December 1, 2024, one month ahead of the target.

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Kazakhstan plans to transit 1.5 million tonnes of oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) route this year, the Kazakh Energy Ministry's press service told Interfax.

"The plan for 2025 via BTC remains at the same level as in 2024 - 1.5 million tonnes of oil," it said.

Oil shipments via this route totaled 1.4 million tonnes in 2024, it said. It was previously reported that the 2024 plan was set at 1.5 million tonnes.

Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev at the end of last year said that the country was looking into the possibility to boost oil supplies from 1.5 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes per year along the BTC route.

Kazakhstan began deliveries via BTC in 2023 in order to diversify oil export routes. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and KazMunayGas signed an agreement to transport 1.5 million tonnes of domestic oil per year via the pipeline. Exports began in April 2023.

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The issue of prioritizing rail transportation of petroleum products will remain relevant and continues to be discussed within the government, President of the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) Igor Artemyev told journalists, as per Interfax.

"For its part, the exchange is doing everything possible and arguing that fuel should remain in the third priority group for access to transportation via RZD [Russian Railways]. We explain this by the fact that the country has a large domestic demand for petroleum products, and the entire fuel cycle is structured in such a way that a stable supply of petroleum products is crucial for oil depots. As far as I know, this issue [the priority of transporting fuel by railway] continues to be discussed within the government, and we expect a decision soon," he said.

As previously reported, from January 1, 2025, the temporary rules for transportation on the Russian Railways network, in which the priority of transporting petroleum products via rail was raised to the 3rd group, are no longer in effect. Currently, fuel has returned to the sixth group.

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