Azerbaijan, Baku, May 23 /Trend A.Taghiyeva/
Turkey is one of the five major countries for BP, so BP does not plan to leave the Turkish energy market, the newspaper Watan reported quoting a press release of the company.
"BP will celebrate the 100th anniversary of activity in Turkey in 2012,. The company has successfully operates in the country, so we're not going to leave the Turkish market in the next 100 years," the company said.
BP opened 40 service stations in Turkey last year and the company plans to open another 35-40 stations this year.
On Wednesday, several Turkish media reported that State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) intends to acquire the assets of BP Turkey, which has been selling oil to the Turkish market.
According to the report, SOCAR and BP Turkey are negotiating and a final agreement is expected to be signed for transfer of BP Turkey's assets to SOCAR in the coming days.
If SOCAR acquires BP Turkey, the company will have a 10 per cent stake on the Turkish market of fuel sale which means that SOCAR will be among four largest companies in Turkey dealing with distribution of fuel in the country.
Earlier, managing director of SOCAR Turkey Enerji (Turkish division of SOCAR) Kenan Yavuz said that his company intends to participate in the selling of oil products in Turkey.
SOCAR is the only producer of oil products in the country (it has two refineries on its balance sheet) and also owns petrol stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Ukraine. Last year SOCAR purchased a network of gas filling stations in Switzerland. The company is co-owner of the largest Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim which carries out oil trade in various regions of the world through SOCAR Trading.