Spring 2000 (8.1)
Page 91

SOCAR Section
Statoil Visit

Statoil's newly appointed President, Olav Fjell, paid an official visit to Baku in late February and met with Speaker of Parliament Murtuz Alasgarov, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and SOCAR President Natig Aliyev.

Photo: Statoil's new President, Olav Fjell of Norway (right) meets with Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Artur Rasizade (left).

Fjell had met with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev the day before leaving Norway. Fjell also met with Western diplomats, BP Amoco management and representatives from Norwegian companies such as Kongsberg Offshore (KOS), Aver, Kvaerner, PGS and DNV.

Statoil first established a presence in Azerbaijan in 1991 and in 1992, in alliance with British Petroleum, became the first international oil company to set up an office in the historic Old City of Baku (Ichari Shahar). After BP merged with Amoco, Statoil moved to new offices in the Landmark Building (January 1999), marking a new stage in the company's presence in Azerbaijan.

Statoil is currently a partner in three projects in Azerbaijan: (1) Azeri, Chirag and Gunashli project, (2) the new, promising Shah Daniz discovery and (3) the Araz, Alov and Sharg prospect. Statoil is among the largest foreign investors in Azerbaijan and intends to expand its activities in the Caspian region. In the year 2000 alone, Statoil plans to invest approximately $110 million in these three projects. However, these sums will increase substantially as soon as the development for Phase 1 and the oil transportation system for the Azeri, Chirag, Gunashli project gets underway.

Statoil is the leading oil and gas producer in the North Sea and operates the largest offshore gas field and gas transportation infrastructure in the world. Because of their experience with gas, Statoil is very ambitious in regard to Azerbaijan's gas midstream sector.


From Azerbaijan International (8.1) Spring 2000.
© Azerbaijan International 2000. All rights reserved.

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