Azernews.Az

By Seymur Aliyev, AzerNews Staff Writer

The holiday of oilworkers was celebrated in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Thursday, September 20. The celebrations included folk festivals at the National Seaside Park in the center of Baku.

As part of the festivities, a new book, titled "Oil and fine art", was presented. The book, which was released jointly by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the state oil company SOCAR and Statoil Absheron, included reproductions of fine art works dedicated to oilworkers and the oil and gas industry of Azerbaijan.

The presentation was attended by the Presidential Administration's head of social and political affairs Ali Hasanov, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev.

The date of the oilmen's holiday was designated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev not by mere chance. On September 20, 1994, a landmark agreement on developing Azerbaijan's major Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields in the Caspian Sea was signed with 13 energy majors from eight countries in Baku. It was the biggest deal ever signed by Azerbaijan. According to the contract, the United States was to invest about $57 billion in developing the Azerbaijani oil fields. So, the agreement was dubbed in Azerbaijan as "Contract of the Century" as it gave a powerful impetus to the rampant development of the resource-rich South Caucasus republic's oil industry.