Monitoring to Define Level of Pollution of Kur River Held in Mingachevir with Statoil’s Support

Azerbaijan, Mingechevir / corr Trend S.Jaliloglu / On 18 May representatives of OSCE and NATO were monitoring in Mingachevir city of Azerbaijan, under the "South Caucasus River Monitoring" project supported by Statoil to define the level of pollution in the Azerbaijani section of the Kur and Araz rivers.

The project's aim is to monitor the quality of water in the Kura-Araks Rivers by systematic collection of reliable data on water quality, and implementing standards for good laboratory practice, and capacity building in analytical chemistry and its application in water system, sampling and monitoring, database management and GIS (Geographical Information System). There is also a training component for young specialists from Azerbaijan and Georgia, implemented throughout the project period.

Famil Humbatov, head of the executive group of the project, said that samples were taken from the Kur River.

For more than three years now Statoil has been supporting the "South Caucasus River Monitoring" project by OSCE in Azerbaijan with 25,000USD per year and with 30,000 Euro for 2007.

Humbatov noted that the samples were taken from other sections of the Kur as well.Humbatov noted that the samples were taken from other sections of the Kur as well.

"In general, the samples were taken from nine to eleven types. The results were positive,' he stressed.

"Access to clean water is becoming more and more important for a growing part of the population in the world. Human Rights/Labour Rights is one of the core areas for Statoil within Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs carried out in Azerbaijan", says Mr. Torbjorn Lindseth, CSR Manager at Statoil in Azerbaijan.

Norway's Station is an integrated oil and gas company with more than 25,000 employees and with business operations in thirty-five countries worldwide. Statoil is the biggest operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and a leading gas supplier to Europe.

STATOIL is the world's third largest net seller of crude oil. Average daily production for the Statoil Group in 2006 was 1,135,000 barrels of oil equivalents. Statoil is also a leading Scandinavian retailer of petrol and other oil products.

For the third year running, the company is listed as one of the absolute best European companies by Business Week magazine. And this year it ranked number five in the top fifty.

Statoil was among the first foreign companies to establish operations in Azerbaijan in 1992, and today Azerbaijan is one of the company's international core business areas, and the company is one of the largest investors in the country.

The company's current interests include Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (8.6 per cent), Shah Deniz (25.5 per cent), and Alov-Araz-Sharg (15.0 per cent). Statoil is the Operator for the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company, responsible for gas sales to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It is also the Commercial Operator of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company where Statoil owns 25.5%. The company holds an 8.71% share in the BTC pipeline for export of Azerbaijani and Caspian oil from Azerbaijan, via Georgia to Turkey.