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Ulviyya Shahin

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The crisis related to climate and ecology present many priorities as commitments for Azerbaijan, like other countries. For this reason, Euro 5 standards have been applied in order to reduce the carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles in a short period of time. The new standards also take into account the quality of the fuel, its octane power, as well as the level of emissions it releases into the air. For this purpose, many cars are already regulated with AI-95 octane fuel and presented to the consumer.

Although electric cars are not widespread in Azerbaijan, many new generation gasoline-powered cars no longer come with AI-92 octane. The decision proposed by the State Customs Committee, especially regarding the old cars imported into the country, has caused some questions after the decision.

Recall that last year, SOCAR announced that AI-95 gasoline would be produced in Azerbaijani plants. In addition to this, the State Customs Committee proposed restricting the import of vehicles older than 7 years after the production period for ecological reasons, and the bill was passed, stating that vehicles manufactured before 2013 would not be allowed into the country. In this case, there is a serious demand for AI-95 fuel in Azerbaijan. It even made the production of this type of gasoline in Azerbaijan very necessary.

It should be noted that Uzbekistan is going to buy AI-92 gasoline from Azerbaijan, as well.

In 2023, Azerbaijan sold 33,112 tons ($23.01 million) of automobile gasoline abroad.

In such a case, the question arises, when will the production of AI-95 be started in Azerbaijan?

Expert in transport Elmaddin Muradlı told Azernews that the production of AI-95 gasoline in Azerbaijan has already been initiated. However, he added that it is delaying for some reasons.

"Let me note that SOCAR officially informed about the production of AI-95 in the country. The plant should have been put into operation last year, and AI-95 and Premium gasoline should have been produced in Azerbaijan.

This process is expected to be completed this year and we hope that when AI-95 and premium gasolines are produced in Azerbaijan, the price of gasoline will also decrease," he said.

The expert also thinks that Azerbaijan is capable of implementing this. And as the regards the current price of the fuel in the country, E.Muradli added that this is related to the cost of transport.

"I can say with certainty that Azerbaijan has all the possibilities to produce AI-95 gasoline. Moreover, if we switch to AI-95 fuel in the country, the state will take measures for this.

At present, high prices of AI-95 and premium fuel are worrying buyers. The prices are revealed on the road, that is, one liter of AI-95 currently costs two manats due to transportation and logistics costs," the expert added.

Elmaddin Muradli also considered the ban on importing old cars to the country as a positive step. He said that bringing old cars to the country causes a number of serious problems.

"In Azerbaijan, old cars cause serious damage to the environment in addition to the ecology. Old, defective cars often cause accidents. On the other hand, the increase on traffic of these types of cars prevents the increase in demand for AI-95 gasoline. As this type of gasoline is not used much in the country, the production is also delayed. In any case, if this plant becomes operational, I hope that certain changes will occur."

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