SOCAR's 1 million barrels of oil to RIL starts

New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCARs) direct supplies of Azeri Light oil from Ceyhan port, to Mukesh Ambani- owned Reliance Industies has started.

Under the one-year contract, Reliance will buy one million barrels of Azeri oil per month, the SOCAR Department of Marketing and Economic Operations said in a statement.

The oil is shipped from the the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, from where Socar exports its share of Azeri production sharing deal with oil major BP PLc.

Reliance refines 660,000 bpd and from 2008 its capacity will grow up to 1.24 million bpd.

Azeri oil is exported now to 32 countries, including Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, North and South America, and Brazil.

UNI