The Energy Industries Council (EIC), the leading trade association for UK companies that supply goods and services to the energy industries worldwide, will lead a trade delegation of 19 UK company representatives to Azerbaijan on 10-14 March.

The mission, supported by UKTI, will visit companies in the capital city of Baku with a view to establishing links and strengthening trade relationships with the Azerbaijani oil and gas industry. The participating companies will have the opportunity to find out more about the local business environment and foster links with companies active in the market through group meetings with operators such as BP, Total and GDF Suez, and major contractors such as AMEC, KBR and CB&I. The UK supply chain has a proven reputation for excellence, developing advanced technologies that have been refined over more than four decades of operation in the North Sea. UK companies have helped unlock billions of barrels of oil through project management and engineering capability; the design, manufacture and installation of advanced equipment; in conducting groundbreaking research and development; and in providing learning and skills training across the entire energy spectrum. Activity on a number of major oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan are picking up pace, offering substantial opportunities for UK companies to do business. The Caspian region’s hydrocarbon reserves are relatively untapped and located strategically for gas supply to European markets, driving growth and global interest in Azerbaijani projects across upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. In December 2013, a BP-led consortium sanctioned the US$28 billion Shah Deniz II project to target reserves in the deepwater portion of the huge Caspian field, which followed not long after the consortium chose the US$10 billion Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) to transport gas from the field to Europe.

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(CD/MH)