BP projects to go ahead despite diving profits
BP, the top foreign investor in Azerbaijan`s oil and
gas sector, will not postpone any of its projects in the country
despite its dropping profits, the spokesperson for BP Azerbaijan
Tamam Bayatly has told Mediaforum news website.
The oil giant has reported a halving in second quarter profits due to lower oil prices and weaker refining margins. Europe`s second largest oil company by market value also said it had increased its cost reduction targets for 2009 by 50 percent to $3 billion.
Bayatly said BP Azerbaijan was operating in the country in accord with the previously-approved yearly plan. This plan is agreed with the Azerbaijani government and the company`s partners, such as state oil company SOCAR, StatoilHydro and ExxonMobil. Agreement to that end is reached in the middle of the year for next year. Thus, the 2009 plan was coordinated in mid-2008. Currently, BP and its partners are working to agree the plan for 2010.
Further, Bayatly said no staff-cuts are in store for BP Azerbaijan employees. According to her, the company permanently employs 1,891 Azerbaijani citizens. Locals account for 82 percent of specialized employees, with most of them holding managerial positions.
``We continue posting advertisements to hire specialists,`` the BP Azerbaijan spokesperson said. ``Those ads are regularly published in the press. We conduct several hiring campaigns every year.``
BP Azerbaijan is involved in such large-scale projects in the country as developing the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) Caspian oil fields, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline and tapping the country`s biggest gas-condensate field Shahdaniz. The company produced a total of 34 million tons of oil from the Chirag, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and Deep-Water Gunashli platforms in 2008. In 2009, it plans to extract about 34.6m tons from the five platforms.
The oil giant has reported a halving in second quarter profits due to lower oil prices and weaker refining margins. Europe`s second largest oil company by market value also said it had increased its cost reduction targets for 2009 by 50 percent to $3 billion.
Bayatly said BP Azerbaijan was operating in the country in accord with the previously-approved yearly plan. This plan is agreed with the Azerbaijani government and the company`s partners, such as state oil company SOCAR, StatoilHydro and ExxonMobil. Agreement to that end is reached in the middle of the year for next year. Thus, the 2009 plan was coordinated in mid-2008. Currently, BP and its partners are working to agree the plan for 2010.
Further, Bayatly said no staff-cuts are in store for BP Azerbaijan employees. According to her, the company permanently employs 1,891 Azerbaijani citizens. Locals account for 82 percent of specialized employees, with most of them holding managerial positions.
``We continue posting advertisements to hire specialists,`` the BP Azerbaijan spokesperson said. ``Those ads are regularly published in the press. We conduct several hiring campaigns every year.``
BP Azerbaijan is involved in such large-scale projects in the country as developing the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) Caspian oil fields, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline and tapping the country`s biggest gas-condensate field Shahdaniz. The company produced a total of 34 million tons of oil from the Chirag, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and Deep-Water Gunashli platforms in 2008. In 2009, it plans to extract about 34.6m tons from the five platforms.
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