SOCAR

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State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)
Type State-owned
Industry Oil and Gas
Founded 1992
Headquarters Baku, Azerbaijan
Key people Rovnag Abdullayev (President)
Products Natural Gas
Petroleum
Revenue Increase $20 billion
Owner(s) Azerbaijan Republic - 100%
Employees est. 58,000 - 70,000 (2007)
Website www.socar.az

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) (Azerbaijani: Aərbaycan Respublikası Dövlət Neft Şirkəti) is the state-owned oil and natural gas corporation of Azerbaijan. It is considered to be one of the largest oil companies in the world.[1] It produces oil and natural gas, operates the country's two oil refineries and the running of oil and gas pipelines throughout the country. 'SOCAR' oversees the international consortia that is developing new oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan.[2] SOCAR is ranked the 68th largest company in the world and is worth $20 billion.[3]

History

Main article: Oil industry in Azerbaijan

SOCAR was established on 13 September 1992, by Decree 200 of President of Azerbaijan Republic by merger of Azerbaijan's two state oil companies, Azerneft and Azneftkimiya.[4] Azerneft was created after the Bolshevik revolution through the nationalization of the Azerbaijani oil industry. During the Soviet period, Azerneft was incorporated into the new Azerbaijan Oil Industry Ministry (1954–1959) and went through several reorganizations and re-namings. In August 1970, it was renamed back to Azerneft. According to the Presidential Decree No. 50, the company was restructured and several entities within the organization were established to improve management of exploration and production activities in Azerbaijan.[1] On 24 January 2003, another set of organizational restructuring as per Presidential Decree No. 844:

  • merged offshore and onshore gas production units establishing Azneft production unit;
  • merged the Foreign Economic Ties Department with 'Azernefttejhizat' unit forming the Marketing and Economic Operations Department;
  • established the Oil Lines Department on the basis of main oil lines production unit;
  • established Baku Deep Water Jacket Plant on the basis of 'Shelflayihetikinti' production unit;
  • established Azerneftyagh oil refinery on the basis of Azerneftyagh production unit;
  • established Azerneftyanajag oil refinery on the basis of Azerneftyanajag production unit;
  • announced IPO for Khezerdenizgazmatikinti, Khezerdenizneftsosialtikinti units and auto transport bureau of SOCAR.[4]

In 1994, SOCAR signed the "Contract of the Century" for the production of oil in the Caspian Sea.

Operations

SOCAR's activities are exploration, preparation, exploitation of onshore and offshore oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan Republic, transportation, processing, refining and sale of oil, gas, condensate and other related products.[4] It employs more than between 58,945 and 70,000 people.[1][5][6] Azerbaijan has 57 oil fields in Azerbaijan, 18 of which are offshore, in Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, as of December 2007, SOCAR has signed 14 offshore and 10 onshore production sharing agreements (PSA) with foreign private corporations.[7] In 2006, SOCAR's production was at about 7.84 million tonnes of oil and 4.34 billion cubic meters of gas.[3] As of January 2009, oil refineries managed by SOCAR have a refining capacity of 339,000 barrels a day.[2]

Projects

Since 1994, SOCAR has signed 28 production sharing agreements (PSA). The first agreement was signed to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields beginning on 20 September 1994, and the latest agreement was signed in 2009 for exploration of Bahar and Gum Deniz offshore oil fields.[8] SOCAR also has a share in two major export pipelines Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and South Caucasus Pipeline.[6] SOCAR has a 25% stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and 10% in South Caucasus Pipeline.[9] It also has stakes in the Baku-Supsa Pipeline and Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline.

Head Office and Representation in Europe and Asia

File:SV100067.jpg
SOCAR Head Office on Azneft Square in downtown Baku, named after historical "Azneft" ("AzOil") trust

SOCAR's head office is located at a three-story building constructed in the French renaissance style, facing the Azneft square in downtown Baku.[10]

Representative offices of SOCAR are located in Bucharest, Frankfurt am Main, Geneva, London, Istanbul, Vienna, Astana, Tehran.[11][12][13] In Romania, SOCAR considers building a petrochemical refinery complex to supply European countries with oil products. [14] Austrian and German offices of SOCAR promote transportation of Azerbaijani hydrocarbons from Azerbaijan to Europe[15] as well as realization of Nabucco project in cooperation with Austria's largest oil producing, refining and gas station operating company OMV.[16] OMV had been transporting some of Azeri Light crude oil from Georgian port of Supsa.[17] Swiss office is represented by subsidiary of SOCAR located in Geneva, SOCAR Trading SA which started its operations in 2008 will be handling marketing of the Azerbaijani oil in Europe. Capital stock of the company is 5 million Swiss francs[18]

SOCAR Energy Georgia, Ltd.

SOCAR's subsidiary SOCAR Energy Georgia, Ltd. was founded in 2006. The company is engaged in retail and wholesale of fuel, import of petroleum and LNG, construction of oil terminals and warehouses. The company holds 72% and 61% of petroleum and diesel markets, respectively. SOCAR Energy Georgia, Ltd. also owns the Kulevi oil terminal.[5] SOCAR supplies Georgia with 20,000 tonnes of oil products a month, including 15,000 tonnes of gasoline. The company has so far invested $400 million in Georgian economy[19] and was reportedly Georgia's biggest taxpayer in 2009. SOCAR paid 162 million Georgian lari ($1 = 1.70 Lari) in tax in 2009. The company was the biggest taxpayer three times in a row.[20]

Social Responsibility

The company has participated in construction of treatment and diagnostic centers in 10 regions of Azerbaijan.[15] In March 2001, SOCAR was awarded the Arch of Europe Award for Quality and Technology at an award ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany. SOCAR also received New Millenium Award in July 2000 in Paris. The award is an international award for quality presented on behalf of 14,000 enterpreneurs from 112 countries.[21]

Management

In January 2006 the former head of the Baku Oil Refinery and a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, Rovnag Abdullayev, was appointed president of SOCAR. He replaced Natig Aliyev, who had been named Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy.

Sports sponsorships

SOCAR is the sponsor of Azerbaijan Premier League.

See also

32x28px Companies portal

Structure

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 SOCAR website. About the company
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Energy Information Administration. Country Analysis Briefs. Azerbaijan. October 2009
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rovshan Ibrahimov (2007-02-17). "State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic: Transition from National to Transnational Company or Demand of Time?". Turkish Weekly. http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/2487/state-oil-company-of-azerbaijan-republic-transition-from-national-to-transnational-company-or-demand-of-time.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Azerbaijan portal
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 SOCAR Georgia. Company Overview
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Script error
  7. ↑ Cohen, Michael (25 November 2007). "Azerbaijan: Production Sharing Agreements". Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Azerbaijan/azerproj.html. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Инвестиции в блок месторождений "Бахар" и "Гум-Дениз" составят $1 млрд [Investment in "Bahar" and "Gumdeniz" bloacks will make up $1 bln]" (in Russian). Rosinvest. 2009-12-22. http://www.rosinvest.com/news/630532/. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  9. ↑ EBRD. SOCAR - South Caucasus Gas Pipeline Project Summary Info
  10. ↑ ABC.az Directory. SOCAR
  11. ↑ SOCAR Representative offices
  12. ↑ Isabel Gorst (2008-01-24). "State Oil Company: Burning ambition to compete on global stage". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/reports/azerbaijan2008. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  13. ↑ "SOCAR office in Romania officially inaugurated". Romania News Watch. 2007-07-13. http://www.romanianewswatch.com/2007/07/socar-office-in-romania-officially.html. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  14. ↑ "SOCAR Prepares Special Energy Strategy for Work in Europe". The Azeri Times. 2009-05-22. http://www.theazeritimes.com/site/fuel-energy/1466. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Germany is interested to carry energy resources from Azerbaijan to Europe". Today.az. 2006-08-25. http://www.today.az/news/business/29356.html. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  16. ↑ "SOCAR President meets with Austria's OMV deputy chairman". Today.az. 2007-04-13. http://www.today.az/view.php?id=39307. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  17. ↑ "Article: Azerbaijan: Total And OMV Win Socar Tenders". highbeam.com. 2004-08-18. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-120876127.html. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  18. ↑ "Маркетингом азербайджанской нефти займется SOCAR Trading SA [Marketing of the Azerbaijani oil is to be done by SOCAR Trading SA]" (in Russian). Regnum. 2008-02-21. http://www.regnum.ru/news/960990.html. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  19. ↑ "State oil company of Azerbaijan already numbers 23 filling stations under SOCAR brand in Georgia and builds new ones". ABC.az. 2009-04-21. http://abc.az/eng/news/34083.html. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  20. ↑ "Azerbaijan state oil company becomes Georgia’s biggest taxpayer in 2009". Today.az. 2010-01-27. http://today.az/news/business/60308.html. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  21. ↑ Script error

External links

de:State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic et:Aserbaidžaani Vabariigi Riiklik Naftakompanii fr:State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic hy:Ադրբեջանի պետական նավթային ընկերություն ru:Государственная Нефтяная Компания Азербайджанской Республики tr:SOCAR


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