BP, partners present ‘Sweet Gold’ project in Azerbaijan

UK’s BP company together with its project partners in Azerbaijan have presented the “Sweet Gold” project worth 3.3 million manats, aimed at the development of beekeeping in the regions of the country.

The pilot phase of the project was launched in March 2017 in 18 rural communities, and the presentation of the project was based on the success of this phase.

The goal of the project is to provide the community members with the necessary resources and skills to create competitive beekeeping farms.

Addressing the event, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones said that the project is a part of the efforts of BP and partners to support the increase of community incomes.

He noted that the company considered two aspects: providing the necessary equipment and tools and building the capacity to manage this area.

This project will also support the government’s efforts to develop the non-oil sphere, said Jones.

The BP regional president expressed hope that the company will be able to achieve the set goal by increasing the incomes of rural communities and their skills.

To date, 100 beekeeping farms have started operating in the Yevlakh, Samukh and Shamkir districts of Azerbaijan as part of the pilot phase. Each farm was provided with 15 beehives and 10 bee colonies, as well as other equipment.

The project’s second phase envisages expanding and increasing social investments, and the next phase will last until 2020.

The project is being implemented by local company – Puls-R.

The cost of the project’s pilot phase is about 400,000 manats and the cost of the second phase is 2.9 million manats.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium confirms budget for 2018

The budget of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) was confirmed at a meeting of CPC-R Board of Directors and an Extraordinary General Meeting of CPC-K Shareholders in Moscow on Nov. 29, 2017.

The International Consortium’s Officers and Shareholders discussed CPC business operation results. The participants approved the Consortium’s 2018 Budget and reviewed the preliminary results of CPC Expansion Project implementation.

This year, five new Pump Stations were put into operation in 2017: two PSs in Astrakhan Oblast, one in Krasnodar Krai and one in Stavropol Krai and also one in Atyrau Oblast in Kazakhstan.

PS-2 in Kalmykia was tied in to the Tengiz-Novorossiysk crude pipeline system in late October 2017. Comprehensive testing of the equipment was commenced on Nov. 24, 2017 at the Station, which commissioning completes the Expansion Project. Once the facility is put into operation, the CPC pipeline system will reach its designed capacity of 67 M tons of crude oil per annum.

The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the energy sector in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz–Novorossiysk Pipeline is 1,511 km; it transports over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export crude, as well as crude from Russian oil fields, including the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM) that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, also amid poor weather conditions.

CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation (represented by Transneft – 24% and CPC Company – 7%) – 31%; Republic of Kazakhstan (represented by Kazmunaygaz – 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%) – 20.75%; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company - 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.

BP says its capex in Azerbaijan don’t depend on oil prices

BP’s capital expenditures in Azerbaijan don’t depend on the current level of oil prices, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones told reporters in Baku. He said that the current level of oil prices [above $60 per barrel] won’t affect BP’s capital expenditures plan in Azerbaijan for the next year.

The BP’s capital expenditure program is planned several years ahead, he noted. The current level of prices has remained the same for about a month, but there are no clear trends whether the prices will remain at the same level or decrease, he added.

The BP plans its budget based not on oil prices but on the efficiency of operations, investments, he said. BP will invest in operations in Azerbaijan even at low oil prices, and the same goes for investments in social projects, Jones noted.

BP and its partners invested $36.87 billion in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan in 2012-2016.

Capital expenditures for the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), Shah Deniz, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and South Caucasus projects amounted to $29.845 billion, and operating expenses were estimated at $7.025 billion.

At the same time, capital expenditures for projects since the beginning of operations in 1995 amounted to $64.5 billion. BP is the operator of the Shah Deniz and ACG development projects.