BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 25
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The payments of Equinor to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR amounted to $243.7 million in 2020, Trend reports citing Equinor.
The company paid $1.2 million to Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) and $37.9 million to the country’s Main Tax Office.
The company invested $213 million in Azerbaijan in 2020, while its revenues stood at $322 million.
Its income before tax in Azerbaijan was equal to $53 million.
Azerbaijan is one of Equinor’s largest and longest-standing international commitments. It has been operating here since 1992 and is one of the largest foreign investors.
Today Equinor has an interest in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline—which runs from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku to the south Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
Equinor and its international partners formed the Regional Sustainable Development programme which consists of the Community Investment Programme / Future Communities Programme and the Regional Development Initiative. Collectively these programmes ensure Equinor and its partners are responsible organisations that foster development and community empowerment near operations. In addition, Equinor, in partnership with the Norwegian government, has supported the Azerbaijani government to establish an oil fund based on the Norwegian model, as well as driven technical development of Azerbaijanis through collaborations with SOCAR and students.
On 30 May 2018 Equinor and SOCAR signed a Risk Service Agreement related to the appraisal and development of the Karabagh oilfield and a Production Sharing Agreement for the Ashrafi-Dan-Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) area in the Caspian Sea.
Equinor and SOCAR hold equal shares in both projects. The Karabagh oilfield is located 120 kilometres east of Baku, close to the SOCAR operated Shallow Water Gunashli (SWG) field and the BP operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field. In December 2019, Equinor started drilling the KPS-4 appraisal in water depth of approximately 180 meters. In March 2020, Equinor and SOCAR confirmed oil discovery in the Karabagh field. To operate the licence, Equinor and SOCAR established a 50-50 joint operating company.
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