Azernews.Az

BAKU – BP hosted an exhibition in Baku on Tuesday to continue helping local companies increase their participation in the large-scale energy projects the oil giant is implementing in Azerbaijan.

Some 90 local companies joined the "Meet the Buyer" event, which was organized on behalf of BP’s co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Shahdaniz and South Caucasus Pipeline projects. The companies are engaged in business services, operations support, engineering, construction, logistics, waste management and other fields. Also, some 50 companies and organizations joined the event as potential buyers.

Paul Evans, BP’s Contract Execution Manager, said the exhibition was the first event of this kind organized in the region by BP and its co-venturers.

"Increasing participation of local companies in our operations is our strategic goal," he said. "To achieve this goal we assist Azerbaijan-based companies in developing their business in support of major oil and gas developments in the region – that is why we established various programs, including the Enterprise Development and Training Program three years ago."

According to Evans, up to 90 local companies have completed the program so far. He said 17 of them have been "specifically successful" having won $65 million worth of BP contracts creating new jobs and investment opportunities. They are currently supporting BP in running its operations in Azerbaijan and Georgia, Evans said.

"BP set a target more than five years ago to double its total local spend in Azerbaijan to $1 billion a year, which includes direct and indirect spend through international contractors. I am pleased to say that we achieved this target in 2009 and we remain committed to continuing our support to developing the local market."