Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 5
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is doing everything possible to bring carbon dioxide emissions to a minimum, Trend reports citing SOCAR Vice President for Ecology Rafiga Huseynzade as saying during a seminar on the application of the national action plan for Azerbaijan.
“The main source of carbon dioxide is the energy sector, and we are doing everything possible to bring these emissions to a minimum,” she said, adding that various laws were adopted in this direction, as well as the corresponding decrees and orders were signed.
In particular, the laws “On Ecological Safety” and “On Environmental Protection” can be considered most important of them, she noted.
“Azerbaijan has taken important steps in this direction in a very short time and is participating in many global projects,” she added. “SOCAR follows the zero waste principle.”
Further, she noted that in recent years, SOCAR has been involved in large-scale projects. Thus, since 2012, SOCAR has been implementing a joint project with the World Bank, as part of which the associated gas is collected from the Oil Rocks.
“Every day about one million cubic meters of associated gas is collected and provided to the population,” said Huseynzade, stressing that this is a significant achievement.
As part of another project jointly with the World Bank, in which BP also participates, one million cubic meters of associated gas is also being collected at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field.
In turn, as Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Novruz Guliyev noted, despite that Azerbaijan is a developing country, it has the potential to put to life all plans and projects (to reduce harmful emissions).
He noted the importance of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, of which Azerbaijan is a party (the country signed it in 2016), adding that by implementing the measures considered in this agreement, it will be possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thereby ensure the health of future generations.
SOCAR reduced carbon dioxide emissions within its projects to 5.891 million tons in 2017. Since 2010, emissions have been reduced by 45 percent.