As the crown jewel of the Caucasus and Central Asian Tsarist Empire, it was a perfect place for the arts to flourish – a multi-ethnic land of not only Azeris but also Russians, Persians, Armenians, Georgians, Jews and many other ethnicities.

Total assets rose by 2.3 percent to 32.797 billion manats, while total liabilities increased by 2.6 percent to 28.066 billion manats.

The pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria is TAP's 182-kilometre interconnector that will bring around 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, providing between 25 and 30 percent of the European country's gas needs.

The first shipment in amount of about 2,000 tonnes was imported this week by SOCAR New Energy, the company's subsidiary.

The shipments declined to 68.645 million barrels per day (bpd) in January-April this year, down from 80.554 million bpd in the same period last year.