Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiko Tembo) announced today that it made the first spot purchase agreement of Azeri crude oil in Japan with Inpex Corporation owning interests of the Azeri oil field.
Quantity of purchase is one million barrels (approx. 160,000 kiloliters), equivalent to half of a large-sized tanker's load capacity. Azeri crude oil will be shipped from the Ceyhan port of the Republic of Turkey at the end of January 2007, and arrive at Idemitsu Aichi Refinery in the beginning of March this year.
“Azeri crude oil” is low-sulfur and high quality medium-gravity oil. The Azeri and Chirag fields in the ACG Block located in the Azerbaijan waters of the Caspian Sea are currently producing crude oil of approx. 600,000 barrels per day.
This procurement of crude oil was decided due to economic advantages of Azeri crude oil compared with crude oil produced in the Middle Eastern or African countries owing to operation of the BTC pipeline. The BTC pipeline connecting between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea started operation in June 2006, which has made it possible for a large-sized tanker to ship Azeri crude oil at the Ceyhan port in the Republic of Turkey.
Idemitsu will continue to tighten the relationship with the Middle Eastern oil producing countries, and at the same time, diversify the suppliers, taking into consideration geopolitical risks.
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