Azerbaijan NEWS

April 16 (Renewables Now) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to help the country develop offshore wind. IFC plans to work with the ministry to create a roadmap for the development of the offshore wind energy sector in Azerbaijan. Further on, it expects to continue partnering with the ministry on implementing the roadmap.

Oilfield services major, Petrofac’s joint venture Azerbaijani state-run firm, SOCAR has won an Engineering and Technical Services contract in Azerbaijan. The contract will require Petrofac-SOCAR JV to support activities in the Absheron natural gas field, located in the Caspian Sea. French supermajor, Total and SOCAR own 50% stakes each in the Absheron field.

The State Statics Committee informed that the oil and gas condensate output of Azerbaijan has dropped by 2.9% year-on-year in January-April 2019. The output has settled at 12.445 million tonnes. The report reveals that gas production climbed in the first four months of 2019 to 11.637 billion cubic meters. In 2018, the nation's oil production was 38.758 million tonnes almost equal to the production of 2017.

In an attempt to elevate industry-academia association, Weir Oil & Gas has inked a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (ASOIU). The agreement requires the Glasgow-based oil and gas firm to deliver workshops, seminars, joint projects and internship programs and sharing their oil and gas expertise. Students from ASOIU will also get to work as interns with the firm.

Technology giant, Honeywell informed that Azerbaijani state-owned SOCAR will deploy Honeywell UOP’s Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology at its Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery (HAOR). Honeywell’s technology will enable Azerbaijan to meet the rising demand for Euro V standard transportation fuels. As part of modernising the HAOR plant, HoneywellUOP will supply two PSA units, controlled by Honeywell Process Solutions C300 distributed control systems.

A new polymer plant has been constructed under SOCAR Polymer project in Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park. This project strengthens the industrial potential of Azerbaijan, commented the Italian President while talking about the significance of the project during the inauguration of the same. Talking about the relations of Italy and Azerbaijan, he thanked SOCAR and Maire Tecnimont for the success of the project.

BP and its partners yesterday commenced operations at the $28-billion Shah Deniz 2 gas development in Azerbaijan. It is the origin of the Southern Gas Corridor to carry gas supplies into Europe and is being seen as a move to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia. Shah Deniz is the largest gas discovery ever made by BP, in 1999. Shah Deniz 1, the first-phase of field development, began production in 2006.

A draft agreement has been discussed by Iran and Azerbaijan for cooperation to develop some oil blocks located in the Caspian Sea. The possible agreement can be a turning point in the ties between Iran and Azerbaijan. Both sides believe that this energy cooperation can be very promising in terms of wealth creation.