Statoil shrinks Azerbaijan office

An undisclosed source from Norwegian operator Statoil’s office in Azerbaijan has reported that the company has made dramatic cuts to its Baku staff.

“If the company had earlier about 40 employees, then now only 10-12 people work for the company,” the source reported. “The Baku office of the company has fully shut down, only a small group of employees are left. The public relations and other departments have shut down. Only the accounting employees are left.”

From its arrival in 1992 until 2014, Statoil has maintained trong presence in Azerbaijan. However it sold its stake in the Shah Deniz natural gas field, the country’s largest, and its share of the South Caucasian Pipeline project, and in June of this year, its 20 percent share in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project.

TAP was designed to transport Azerbaijan’s gas to the Turkish-Greek border, easing Europe’s need for Russian gas. Statoil’s TAP selling price to Malaysian firm Petronas has not been disclosed, but estimates put it at €400 million.

“We generally do not comment on speculations on adjustments to our portfolio,” Statoil’s spokesman told Reuters, when questioned about selling their share of the TAP project.

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