BAKU

Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR and France’s Technip Energies signed a cooperation agreement to study sustainability measures in offshore upstream activities, including CO2 emission reduction, improvement of power efficiency and associated optimisation in the total cost of ownership.

SOCAR said that the agreement included the evaluation of a joint pilot project for offshore energy production on a floating wind turbine. The pilot project envisages energy supply for upstream operations in the Caspian Sea. This would be the first of its kind in Azerbaijan.

At present, upstream operations in the Caspian Sea mainly use electricity generated from natural gas. The pilot project aims to determine the prospects for the supply of sustainable energy to the upstream sector of Azerbaijan, reduce natural gas consumption and increase gas exports.

“Our goal is to reduce operating costs, increase energy efficiency and ensure the sustainability of operations at SOCAR,” Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR president, said.

“I am confident that the partner company, which is interested in various new areas of cooperation in our country, such as green chemistry, digitalization and sustainable energy development, can succeed in these areas as well.”

Technip Italy, the company’s subsidiary, recently completed a project of modernisation of SOCAR Azerkimya which started in 2016.

“Our collaboration is fully in line with our ambition to accelerating the transition toward a low carbon society,” Marco Villa, Technip Energies CEO, said.

With more than 60 years of experience, Technip Energies operates in 34 countries around the world. The company has 15,000 employees. Technip Energies provides engineering and construction services in liquefied gas hydrogen production, sustainable (green) chemistry, biofuels, decarbonization and other fields.