Azerbaijan holds vast oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Sea, which it exports to neighboring Georgia, Turkey and Europe. Set on becoming a major energy exporter, the country is looking for new outlets to make the management of its natural resources more efficient.
"Our corresponding structures are working hard in this direction, and we have already held several rounds of consultations [with Belarus]," Ilham Aliyev told a news conference with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, following bilateral talks.
Aliyev said his country's oil output would reach 43 million metric tons (315 mln bbl) this year and over 50 million (367 mln bbl) in 2008, and that natural gas production was rapidly developing.
Azerbaijan exports its oil via three pipelines - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan transiting Georgia to Turkey, Baku-Novorossiisk, which links the Azeri capital with a Russian port on the Black Sea, and Baku-Supsa to Georgia.
The country also intends to join the Odessa-Brody project, bringing oil from Ukraine to Poland.
Dependent on energy deliveries from Russia, Belarus has been looking to diversify its energy sources after Moscow halted energy supplies to and transit via Belarus in a row over prices in late January.
Aliyev also said Belarusian companies were interested in developing Azeri oilfields. "We completely support such intentions," the leader said.
