BP keen to expand relations with Azerbaijan

Baku, August 13 - Neftegaz.RU. According to AzerNews, BP will continue its operations in Azerbaijan and look for opportunities to expand relations, the company's Vice-President Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli has said.

'We have been present in Azerbaijan for around three decades investing in oil and gas. We will continue our business here while we also will look for opportunities to expand our relationship with Azerbaijan on a range of other areas of our long-term energy partnership, Aslanbayli wrote in his Twitter account.

The statement comes after reports in foreign media alleging that BP would move out of Azerbaijan, along with 5 other countries. Aslanbayli also said in an interview with Azertag that the company will not reduce its business operations in Azerbaijan and in the Caspian region.

Speaking about the company's new strategy, Aslanbeyli said that it will transform BP from an international oil company, mainly engaged in resource extraction, into an integrated energy company providing solutions for its clients.

He emphasized that the share of oil and gas will decrease with time, but it will remain an important part of the company's activities.

'What will change is that BP will no longer be a predominantly hydrocarbon company. It will be an integrated energy company - with the oil and gas industry as part of a more balanced portfolio, he said.

He added that the company is fully committed to continue to conduct safe, reliable and sustainable oil and gas business in Azerbaijan.

BP first arrived in Azerbaijan and opened its first office in Baku in June 1992. Over the past years, in partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan, BP-operated projects such as, Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), Shah Deniz, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), which have contributed to the development of the Caspian Sea as a modern hydrocarbon province.