BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.30
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Norway’s Equinor company has paid $283 million to Azerbaijani government for extractive activities as of 2020, Trend reports with reference to the company.
“Our largest contributions outside Norway were in Angola, Azerbaijan, and Nigeria where we paid $1.4 billion in taxes and other payments, representing 30 percent of our total global contribution,” said the company.
Revenues of Equinor from operations in Azerbaijan is 2020 stood at $322 million, income before tax amounted to $53 million, while income tax expense was equal to $9 million. Income tax paid and retained earnings are estimated at $40 million and $1.024 billion, respectively.
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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