Azernews.Az

By Fatma Babayeva

Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR is constantly looking for new and profitable opportunities for the diversification of domestic and foreign investment, but at the moment, there is no decision on the purchase of new gas stations.

Nizamaddin Guliyev, spokesman for SOCAR told media on April 1, commenting on the information disseminated in Austrian mass media about the talks between SOCAR and Welser-Doppler on the acquisition of gas station network.

Guliyev stressed that SOCAR adheres to the principle of vertical integration in its strategy for internal and foreign investments with a view to increase the efficiency of the value chain.

This strategy will enable SOCAR to bring manufactured products to the market in more favorable terms and increase the efficiency of company's contributions to the economy of the country in the long run.

The public is regularly informed about the company's decisions related to investments in accordance with the business ethics standards, he added.

Josef Franz Doppler, the owner of the Austrian company also refuted the media reports in his interview to finanzen.at on April 5.

Currently, the company owns a network of gas stations in Azerbaijan, Romania, Switzerland, Georgia and Ukraine.

SOCAR is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products in the markets abroad and involved in different stages of oil and gas production such as exploration, production, transportation and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, as well as supplying natural gas to local industry in Azerbaijan.

The company has representative offices in Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Britain, Iran, Germany and Ukraine, and trading companies in Switzerland, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, and other countries.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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