Azerbaijan updates memorandum on EITI standards application
A memorandum on applying the new standards of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Azerbaijan will be signed by late 2013, head of State oil Fund of Azerbaijan Shahmar Movsumov said at a conference in Baku on Thursday devoted to the tenth anniversary of Azerbaijan's accession to the initiative.
The memorandum will be signed with participants of the mining projects in the country and non-governmental organizations reflecting the interests of civilian society.
According to Movsumov, a special working group was created to prepare this document. It will finalize the initial version of the memorandum in October.
New standards within EITI envisage reflecting the information on revenues from implementation of mining projects and transfers of each company in annual reports.
According to the new standards, the companies which participate in the initiative will be committed to provide more detailed information about transfers, Movsumov said. Azerbaijan joined EITI in 2003.
The relevant memorandum was signed by 21 foreign and local mining companies which joined EITI, including major companies such as SOCAR, BP Azerbaijan, Exxon, Statoil, Total, Lukoi, Unocal, Shell, and Devon Enerji on November 24, 2004.
A numbers of companies, including Inpex Azerbaijan, Binaqadi Oil, RAFI Oil, NICO, Apsheron Investment Ltd and GDF SUEZ Eksploration Caspian BV and the Azerbaijan International Mining Company, which is engaged in gold mining in Azerbaijan, the Neftechala Operating Company Ltd and Shirvan Operating Company Limited were among the last companies which joined the memorandum.