Azernews.Az

By Narmina Mammadova

Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Utilities Autonomous State Corporation (AASS) of San Marino.

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Italy said that the document, which provides for energy cooperation between the two companies, is the first step taken within the memorandum of understanding signed between the foreign ministries of the two countries during the visit by Nicola Renzi, secretary of state for foreign affairs of San Marino, to Azerbaijan in May.

The document was signed during the visit of a delegation led by SOCAR Deputy Vice President for Investment and Marketing Vitaliy Baylarbayov to San Marino.

During the visit, meetings were held with San Marino energy secretary, Marco Podeschi, and AASS President Federico Crescentini.

SOCAR (the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.

On September 13, 1992, according to a Decree of the Azerbaijani President, SOCAR was established on basis of the Azerineft State Concern and Azerneftkimya Production Association in order to use oil resources in accordance with a consistent national policy, improve the management structure of the oil industry, and develop the energy industry.

The company includes three production associations, one oil refining and gas processing enterprise, an oil flotilla, a deep-water base plant, two trusts, one institute, and 23 structures.

SOCAR includes such production associations as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies, and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations.

It has representative offices in Georgia, the U.S., Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Belgium and Canada.

SOCAR conducts various petroleum activities in countries such as Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Switzerland, Germany and Ukraine, including trading activities, mainly in Switzerland, Singapore and Nigeria.

It owns over 370 filling stations in Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Switzerland.

Founded in 2008, SOCAR Turkey, officially titled “SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.Ş.”, is an affiliate of SOCAR, one of the most well-established oil and natural gas companies of the world.

With its total investment volume of $19.5 billion to be realized by 2020, SOCAR is the biggest foreign investor of Turkey. Similarly, SOCAR’s group companies in Turkey, namely Petkim, STAR Refinery, Petlim Container Terminal and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) represent the largest-scale investment Azerbaijan has made to a single country to date.

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