Azernews.Az

The crisis in world stock exchanges will have no impact on the revenues of the State Oil Fund (SOFAR), the body that holds proceeds from the exports of Azerbaijan's vast energy resources.
SOFAR executive director Shahmar Movsumov said the 10-12% drop in the value of securities in the world's stock markets has actually positively affected SOFAR's means as they are kept not in stock but in debt securities. "As a rule, when stock goes down, the price for debt securities rises."
Movsumov said the falling dollar rate has necessitated changes in the currency structure of the funds.
"The fund's means have been kept mostly in dollars so far, but starting this year their share will be reduced to 50%. The share of euros will be raised to 40% for the purpose. 5% of the funds will be kept in pounds, while the remaining 5% - in other currencies," Movsumov told a news conference on the outcomes of 2007 on Friday.
61% of the fund's assets are currently kept in dollars, while 34% - in euros and 4% in pounds.
As of January 1, 2008, SOFAR's funds amounted to $2.475 billion. Movsumov said that if world crude prices remain unchanged, $5 billion will be transferred to the entity this year.
According to projections, the country's dividends from the project on its biggest offshore gas field Shahdaniz will amount to $240 million and those from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export oil pipeline - $140 million in 2008.
Movsumov said that overall, the year 2007 was successful for SOFAR. "The implementation of the country's oil strategy continues to yield results. As a result, the fund's means rose by over $1 billion last year."
SOFAR's budget revenues exceeded $1.872bn, while expenses - $1.061bn in 2007. The projection on revenues was overfulfilled by 20.3%, while that on expenses was met by 95.1%. The fund received 1.8bn manats ($2.14bn) from the implementation of oil contracts, including 1.675bn manats from the sale of profit oil. The rest was made up by bonus payments and other contributions.