Azernews.Az

PETRAD, a Norwegian non-profit organisation, specialising in petroleum policy and resource management, petroleum development and operations courses has launched a first alumni network in Azerbaijan.

'By facilitating experience transfer from Norway to Azerbaijan through an organisation such as PETRAD, we believe we can positively contribute to the prudent resource management and competence building in the country', says Tanguy Cosmao, Vice President Area Development for Statoil in Azerbaijan.

PETRAD Director Øystein Berg said that 'one of the main objectives of PETRAD courses is to develop skills to ensure overall efficiency in petroleum policies and management, as well as operation of large-scale projects related to the upstream hydrocarbon sector.'

Prof. Ove Tobias Gudmestad spoke about new trends in subsea developments, a technology that Azerbaijan is going to use on its first subsea production on Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea.

The first gathering of the PETRAD alumni in Azerbaijan was attended by around 15 former PETRAD Azerbaijani participants. Representatives of the government insitutions also took part in the seminar.

The event was organized and facilitated by Statoil as part of the celebration of Statoil's 20^th anniversary of activities in Azerbaijan.

Statoil is an international energy company with operations in 36 countries, and the largest off shore operator in the world.

Statoil entered Azerbaijan in 1992. It is the second largest foreign investor in the country. Statoil has invested more than $5 billion and is a partner with 8,56% share in the oil producing Azeri-Chiraq-Guneshli (ACG ) field, the Shah Deniz gas field with 25,5% share, and the corresponding pipelines Baku-Tblisi-Cheyhan (BTC) and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP). The company's current production from Azerbaijan is around 100.000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, over 20% of Statoil's international production.