diff --git a/dvc/remote/azure.py b/dvc/remote/azure.py
index 38ee994bf..ba6023f70 100644
--- a/dvc/remote/azure.py
+++ b/dvc/remote/azure.py
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ class Callback(object):
 
 class RemoteAzure(RemoteBase):
     scheme = 'azure'
-    REGEX = (r'^azure://((?P<path>[^=;]*)|('
+    REGEX = (r'azure://((?P<path>[^=;]*)?|('
              # backward compatibility
              r'(ContainerName=(?P<container_name>[^;]+);?)?'
-             r'(?P<connection_string>.+)?))$')
+             r'(?P<connection_string>.+)?)?)$')
     REQUIRES = {'azure-storage-blob': BlockBlobService}
     PARAM_ETAG = 'etag'
     COPY_POLL_SECONDS = 5
@@ -43,8 +43,9 @@ class RemoteAzure(RemoteBase):
         self.url = config.get(Config.SECTION_REMOTE_URL)
         match = re.match(self.REGEX, self.url)  # backward compatibility
 
+        path = match.group('path')
         self.bucket = (
-            urlparse(self.url).netloc
+            urlparse(self.url if path else '').netloc
             or match.group('container_name')  # backward compatibility
             or os.getenv('AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER_NAME'))
 
@@ -68,8 +69,11 @@ class RemoteAzure(RemoteBase):
     @property
     def blob_service(self):
         if self.__blob_service is None:
+            logger.debug('URL {}'.format(self.url))
+            logger.debug('Connection string {}'.format(self.connection_string))
             self.__blob_service = BlockBlobService(
                 connection_string=self.connection_string)
+            logger.debug('Container name {}'.format(self.bucket))
             self.__blob_service.create_container(self.bucket)
         return self.__blob_service
 
diff --git a/tests/test_data_cloud.py b/tests/test_data_cloud.py
index 35b627de7..66da97551 100644
--- a/tests/test_data_cloud.py
+++ b/tests/test_data_cloud.py
@@ -144,7 +144,11 @@ def get_gcp_url():
 
 
 def get_azure_url_compat():
-    return 'azure://'
+    container_name = os.getenv("AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER_NAME")
+    connection_string = os.getenv("AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING")
+    assert container_name is not None
+    return 'azure://ContainerName={};{}'.format(container_name,
+                                                connection_string)
 
 
 def get_azure_url():
@@ -165,11 +169,9 @@ class TestDataCloud(TestDvc):
                  ('gs://mybucket/', RemoteGS),
                  ('ssh://user@localhost:/', RemoteSSH),
                  ('http://localhost:8000/', RemoteHTTP),
+                 ('azure://ContainerName=mybucket;conn_string;', RemoteAzure),
                  (TestDvc.mkdtemp(), RemoteLOCAL)]
 
-        if _should_test_azure():
-            clist.append(('azure://ContainerName=', RemoteAzure))
-
         for scheme, cl in clist:
             remote_url = scheme + str(uuid.uuid4())
             config[TEST_SECTION][Config.SECTION_REMOTE_URL] = remote_url
diff --git a/tests/unit/__init__.py b/tests/unit/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/unit/remote/__init__.py b/tests/unit/remote/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/unit/remote/azure.py b/tests/unit/remote/azure.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f00a84d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/remote/azure.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from dvc.remote.azure import RemoteAzure
+
+
+class TestRemoteAzure(TestCase):
+    container_name = 'container-name'
+    connection_string = (
+        'DefaultEndpointsProtocol=http;AccountName=devstoreaccount1;'
+        'AccountKey=Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsu'
+        'Fq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==;'
+        'BlobEndpoint=http://127.0.0.1:10000/devstoreaccount1;'
+    )
+
+    def test_init_compat(self):
+        url = (
+            'azure://ContainerName={container_name};{connection_string}'
+            .format(container_name=self.container_name,
+                    connection_string=self.connection_string)
+        )
+        config = {'url': url}
+        remote = RemoteAzure(None, config)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.url, url)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.prefix, '')
+        self.assertEqual(remote.bucket, self.container_name)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.connection_string, self.connection_string)
+
+    def test_init(self):
+        prefix = 'some/prefix'
+        url = 'azure://{}/{}'.format(self.container_name, prefix)
+        config = {'url': url, 'connection_string': self.connection_string}
+        remote = RemoteAzure(None, config)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.url, url)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.prefix, prefix)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.bucket, self.container_name)
+        self.assertEqual(remote.connection_string, self.connection_string)