State Oil Company of Azerbaijan
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The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and its many subsidiaries are responsible for the production of oil and natural gas in Azerbaijan, for operation of the country's two refineries, for running the country's pipeline system, and for managing the country's oil and natural gas imports and exports. While government ministries handle exploration and production agreements with foreign companies, SOCAR is party to all of the international consortia developing new oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan.
The company was established in September 1992 with the merger of Azerbaijan's two state oil companies, Azerineft and Azneftkimiya.
In 1994 the company signed the "Contract of the Century" related to extraction of oil from the Caspian Sea. SOCAR has a 25% stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Appointed to head SOCAR in January 2006 was Rovnag Abdullayev, former head of the Baku Oil Refinery and a member of the newly elected Azerbaijani parliament. He replaced veteran SOCAR head Natig Aliyev, who had been named Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy.
In 2005 SOCAR produced above 14 million tones of oil (150,000 bbls/d), mostly from Shallow Water Guneshli field.