Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

An international conference titled "Global view on environment issues in the oil industry" kicked off in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on November 4.

Head of Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said at the opening ceremony that as a result of conducted measures, the volume of associated gas discharged to the atmosphere at the Gunashli and Oil Rocks oil and gas fields was reduced by 560 million cubic meters.

Referring to SOCAR's cooperation with British BP Company, Abdullayev said that the companies managed to reduce the flared gas in the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (AGC) block of oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan's share of the Caspian Sea and in the Sangachal oil terminal.

"The reduction, in turn, led to an increase in the volume of associated gas delivered by BP Company," he said.

Abdullayev also stressed on the positive impact of constructing a new oil and gas processing complex on the ecological situation.

He went on to note that old oil refineries are planned to be dismantled. Furthermore, construction of the complex will be positively observed in the ecological situation of Sumgayit where the chemical production unit is located.

Speaking at the event Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Huseyngulu Baghirov said that it is impossible to eliminate pollution and the subsequent environmental impact of oil production in Azerbaijan in the short term.

According to him, 1.5 billion tons of oil was produced by late 2011 which is an indication of the scale of pollution of the country's ecology, particularly in the period of ecological ignorance. The elimination of these effects lie on SOCAR, which jointly with the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, is actively working to clean up polluted land and improve the environmental situation in the Absheron Peninsula.

"The total land area contaminated by the oil industry development is 35,000 hectares. Some 15,000 hectares of the mentioned amount were subjected to very heavy pollution", Baghirov said.

Referring to work conducted in the country in the field of ecology, Baghirov said that in the past 10 years, eight national parks were established in Azerbaijan and currently work is underway to establish one more.

In that period, the protected areas increased from 400,000 hectares to one million hectares. Also during this period, in order to improve the environmental situation, over a million trees have been planted.

A member of British House of Lords, Lord Peter Mandelson, also made a speech at the event.

He said that the project envisaging delivery of Azerbaijani gas from the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field to Europe will become one of the largest construction-engineering projects in the world.

According to Mandelson, the project is being carried out with the participation of British BP Company.

Mandelson, also the head of Global Counsel international consulting company , went on to note that cooperation between SOCAR and BP laid the foundation of success for both companies.

A message from Leyla Aliyeva, the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Director of the International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA), was also read in the event.

The message read that the global ecological problems require a global approach to their settlement.

"The concern caused by the ecological problems in the world forces each of us to think thoroughly," the statement said. "An innovative approach is constantly required to more effectively protect nature".

"IDEA is trying to create an international dialogue to protect the environment," the statement said.

"We consider 'Green thinking' approach and propaganda as the main principles of our activity to resolve the ecological problems," he said.

Aliyeva also said that the environmental protection must become the common philosophy of life for all the people living on earth.

"IDEA is working on new projects to strengthen the ecological enlightenment," the statement said. "The future ecological state of our planet will depend on the thinking of today's generation. Of course, to think about the ecology means to think about the future."

According to Aliyeva, the current demographic changes, the expansion of industry, the growth of the human impact on the environment are turning the ecological responsibility into the main challenge of present time.

"We must mobilize all opportunities to attract more attention to the environmental protection," the statement said. "I am very glad that this conference opens a new platform to discuss the solutions to the global ecological problems. I wish success to the conference."

The event later continued with some sessions.

Speaking at the event's first session titled the development of oil and gas industry and atmosphere emissions, Deputy Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, and the Chairman of the Parliamentarian Committee on natural resources, energy and ecology Valeh Alasgarov said that political will is important for implementation of gas transportation projects in time, including delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

The political will, according to him, will lead to the implementation of the Trans Anatolian and Trans Adriatic gas pipeline projects in time.

"The conditions for possible delivery of gas from Central Asia to Europe will be created by implementing infrastructure projects with participation of Azerbaijan," Alasgarov said.

Speaking at the event's second session titled the effect of offshore oil and gas operations on water basins ,World Bank's Baku Office head Larisa Leshchenko said that the efforts within Azerbaijan's cooperation with GGFR (Global Gas Flaring Reduction) and other ecological projects will contribute to the formation of energy sector of the country, considering the interest balance of future generations and protection of environment.

According to her, SOCAR's active efforts since 2008 within GGFR allowed achieving significant results in the country in the field of reducing emissions and flaring associated gas.

Leshchenko also said that the world volumes of emissions and flaring associated gas amounts to 25 percent of the total volume of gas demand in the U.S., 30 percent in Europe and about 70 percent of Russia's gas export.

"Accordingly, reduction of these indicators would not only improve the ecological situation, but also bring economic practicability," she said.

Leshchenko went on to note that natural gas plays the role of a bridge between the renewable and traditional energy resources.

The two-day international conference organized with the support of SOCAR and IDEA is attended by 250 delegates, including representatives of government agencies from different countries and global oil and gas companies, as well as scientists and leading experts in field of ecology.

The conference has always been an international meeting platform for scientists, public figures and company representatives concerned with finding answers to the global challenges posed by environmental issues today.

The conference aims to give a comprehensive analysis of the current environmental situation for the sustainable development of the region, to share experience in the use of new methods and techniques for the study of various environmental issues, to develop environmental protection proposals and to forecast the dynamics of progress in the field of environmental protection in the forthcoming decades.

SOCAR is the General Sponsor of the conference, providing direct support for the event. Other sponsors of the conference include BP (Gold Sponsor), Total (Silver Sponsor), Cross Caspian Oil & Gas Logistics LTD, EKOL Engineering Services, AZLAB and Earth (Bronze Sponsor). Organizations support was provided by Iteca Caspian LLC and Practical Solutions Group.