Rosneft and SOCAR Sign Cooperation Agreement

Russia's Rosneft and Azerbaijan's SOCAR signed a cooperation agreement in the presence of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, reads a note released on Tuesday. 

'Rosneft and SOCAR will form a joint venture on parity basis to cooperate in certain upstream oil and gas projects in various countries, including Russia and Azerbaijan. The companies also agreed to cooperate in marketing and trading operations for hydrocarbons and petroleum products as well as jointly operate certain infrastructure facilities, such as pipelines and terminals,' reads the note. 

According to Rosneft President Igor Sechin and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, the agreement will enable the companies to broaden geographical reach, get access to new markets and resources and optimize crude oil and petroleum product supplies through the use of existing infrastructure.

The cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia increased in the last months, with SOCAR doubling its gas supply to Russia this year. 

Gazprom and SOCAR are the movers and shakers of the Greece's natural gas market due to their dominant position of supplying the bulk the country's gas needs. SOCAR is very much interested in exporting gas not only to Greece but also to Bulgaria and other Balkan countries with which it has in the recent past signed memorandums of cooperation.