Caspian - Press-release / Archive 2007, 2008, 2009 / English version

Press-release

25.04.2007

The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baku was the venue for the first Caspian Oil Trading and Transportation Conference on the 23^rd and 24^th of April. Baku is chosen to host many conferences, so what’s so special about this one?

Firstly, the organisers. The conference was organised by the British company Confidence Energy in cooperation with the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. The local partner, ASOA, is an educational establishment with a history going back nearly a hundred years. Not simply one of the many academies that are scattered over the post-Soviet space, but an Academy with a capital A - the first higher institute in Europe or Asia focusing on oil. The ASOA has served has the intellectual centre a number of analogous institutions in Russia, Ukraine and father afield.

The London-based organisers, Confidence Energy, are industry leaders in the area of conference organisation and have highly qualified specialists in the the crude oil and petroleum products trading. Their department was formed with the active support of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, formerly IPE). Confidence Energy specialises in coverage of the crude oil and petroleum products trading, market flows and logistical services at an inter- and intra-regional level. Their strength as an organiser comes from the fact that they themselves are closely involved in all aspects of the oil trade, analysis and consulting.

The symbiotic relationship between the academic world and commercial enterprise leads to interesting results:

To start with, the conference was attended by more than 150 delegates from 20 countries – companies active in the region such as SOCAR, BP, Statoil, Total, TengizChevroil, Agip, and Petrokazakhstan as well as traders and specialists from small and large companies alike. The press took a strong interest in following the conference and accredited journalists from around 30 publications and news agencies were present, as well as the state television channel AzTV1 and the channel Mir. The conference also received support from government bodies. Natig Aliev, the Azerbaijani Minister for Industry and Energy planned to appear but due to his visit to South Korea his place at the conference was taken by the head of economic department of the Ministry Rafik Aliev. The Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources was involved as well with the appearance of the President of the Information Directorate of Oil and Gas Industry, Kairat Kaipiev and his deputy Munal Izbergenov.

Secondly the quantity of information and discussions was impressive. The organisers managed to achieve a balance between representatives of official bodies, companies, academics and analysts and the mixture produced a great environment for all. The conference hall was just as packed on the second day as on the first, which speaks for itself. Traders are very busy and will not waste time with something that doesn’t keep their interest.

Among the highlights of the presentations were the report by Arzu Azimov, the deputy general manager of SOCAR marketing and operations, the commercial manager of the port of Aktau, Bolat Zhansugurov, the general director of Cross Caspian, Naili Mehrabova, analyst from the Centre for Global Energy Studies, Julian Lee and analyst from Argus Media Rauf Guseinov.

Thirdly, it was an excellent platform to exchange and spread information, make new business contacts as well as friends. The culmination of the two-day event was the gala dinner at the Mugam club, one of the best restaurants in the capital of Azerbaijan. After an evening of fantastic local Baku food and a great programme of entertainment with Azerbaijani music and dance and a DJ, you could say that they entered the Hyatt as colleagues and left the Mugam club as friends.

The hosting of an event on this scale at Baku is significant and revealing, and we hope that the wishes of the delegates and organisers to make this a yearly event will be fulfilled. It signifies that oil industry professionals from all over the world see Azerbaijan not just as an oil extracting country, but as a centre for trading and scientific research, and as a country with great potential for growth. Just as London has positioned itself as the financial centre of Europe and Shanghai as the business centre of China, the successful hosting of the oil trading and transportation conference will position Baku as the oil and trading centre of the Caspian region.