The chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Sadig Gurbanov began the committee meeting held on 29 March by presenting a Bill on conclusion, ratification and performance clearance of the Risks Services Agreement between the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic and GL International Ltd with regards to rehabilitation and development of the block consisting of the Buzovna-Mashtaga, Gala and Zira onshore oil-fields in Azerbaijan.

Mr Gurbanov accompanied his brief overview of the Bill with a commentary about its economic significance and about also the development history of the oil-fields in question. The new contract would help raise local investments, push the progress of local companies and personnel and, last but not least, provide for introduction and implementation of new technologies, Mr Gurbanov stressed.

Tural Mahmudlu, a group leader from SOCAR Upstream LLC, informed the MPs of the parameters of the intended rehabilitation scope within the frameworks of the deal inked by SOCAR and GL International Ltd on 14 December 2021. Besides, he gave explanations about the proposed work scope and the rules/provisions concerning its fulfilment. Mr Mahmudlu also told the meeting participants about the prospective contractor’s obligations with respect to the work scopes for the interim 24-month period and the upstream period that will span over 25 years subsequently, specifically, the extraction increase and sharing obligations and those pertaining to exploration, employment of Azerbaijani citizens and personnel training.

The deputy chairman of the committee Asim Mollazade and the committee members Iltizam Yusifov, Mashhur Mammadov, Nasib Mahamaliyev and Fatma Yildirim made their considerations were known as the Bill was discussed then. It would become an integral component of the national oil strategy incepted by the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev and continued successfully by President Ilham Aliyev nowadays, they said. They also commended the contract parties on their intention to rehab and re-launch those old fields, implement modern industry standards and train professional personnel. Furthermore, the MPs wanted to know how the issues of employment of the staff of SOCAR’s department that works there currently and of environmental protection will be addressed eventually.

The deputy executive directors of SOCAR Upstream LLC Davud Yagubov and Ali Jafarli and the above-mentioned Tural Mahmudlu answered the law-makers’ questions and commented on the topics they had touched on.

It was recommended ultimately to bring the Bill before the Milli Majlis plenum.

The participants of the meeting other than those named above were the MPs Afat Hasanova, Anar Mammadov, Aliabbas Salahzade and Mikhail Zabelin as well as other officials.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis