BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Global programs for the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic are strong amid the global economic crisis, said the SOCAR president.
The global crisis "will not affect major international projects," said SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, singling out a petrochemical facility in Turkey.
SOCAR has a stake in the Turkish petrochemical company Petkim, which plans to build a major refinery for raw materials, reports the Trend News agency.
Abdullayev noted, however, that many companies in Azerbaijan may cut back on several domestic projects because of the international recession, notably exploration and production of oil and gas reserves.
Those comments come on the heels of statements from Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, who told Russian news agency ITAR-TASS his country needs to expand its economy to include areas outside the natural resource sector.
Azerbaijan sits on major reserves in fields offshore in the Caspian Sea. It also hosts several major resource pipelines, notably the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route, the second-longest oil pipeline in the world.
