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SOCAR enjoys potential to increase activity in Romania

17 April 2014 15:52 (UTC+04:00)
SOCAR enjoys potential to increase activity in Romania

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR has great potential to expand its activities in Romania.

These remarks were made by Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev during a meeting with newly appointed Romanian Economy Minister Constantin Nita.

Together with SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, Aliyev led the Azerbaijani delegation which visited Romania on April 14.

The delegation included SOCAR Vice President Elshad Nasirov, Adviser to the SOCAR President Murad Heydarov, Deputy Vice President Vitaly Beylerbayov, and representative of the Energy Ministry Rauf Hasanov.

The meeting was attended by the ministry's state secretaries, advisers, presidents of the oil and gas companies operating in Romania, and employees of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Romania and SOCAR office in Bucharest.

The Azerbaijani minister highlighted the history of the fraternal and strategic relations between the two countries, and thanked the Romanian government and the country's president for supporting Azerbaijan's fair position in international organizations.

He also praised energy cooperation between the two countries.

Noting that SOCAR's filling stations had been operating in Romania, he said the company was interested in increasing the number of those stations.

He also spoke about the possibility of implementing joint projects with Turkish Petkim oil-chemistry complex and Romanian Oltchim chemistry plant.

In his remarks, the SOCAR head touched upon the current state of trade turnover between Romania and Azerbaijan, and said SOCAR's trade in Romania amounted to €270 million.

Nita, in turn, spoke about bilateral relations and strategic partnership between the two countries, and gave information about the country's economic achievements.

The minister called the activities of the SOCAR office fruitful, and expressed hope that apart from building new filling stations, SOCAR will also show interest in drilling, oil producing, and other fields.

He also highlighted the necessity of increasing trade between Azerbaijan and Romania, and expressed the government's readiness to cooperate with Azerbaijan on all fronts.

As part of the visit, the Azerbaijani delegation also met Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Speaking at the meeting, SOCAR head said his company has international experience in implementing large-scale projects which can contribute to achieving common European targets in the energy field.

"Europe is facing many challenges in diversifying supply sources, which is important for ensuring energy security and provides the competitiveness of industry, economy, and infrastructure," Abdullayev noted.

Ponta, in turn, praised the SOCAR's activity in Romania.

The Romanian Premier said as a member of the European Union, his country is ready to support all joint energy projects with Azerbaijan and Turkey in the region, as well as the country's investments in Romania.

Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.

The company entered the Romanian market by buying local filling stations from Romtranspetrol and re-branding them in 2011. Becoming one of the most important players in fuel distribution in northeast Romania, SOCAR plans to bring the number of its gas stations in Romania to 100.

Since the beginning of 2014, SOCAR has opened eight new stations in Romania. The 27th filling station in the country was commissioned on March 21, 2014.

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