Day of Oilers of Azerbaijan

Oil platform in the Caspian Sea near BakuOn September 20, 1994, in the Gulistan Palace in Baku, an agreement was concluded “on the share distribution of production” regarding the development of the deep-water fields Azeri, Chirag, Guneshli, located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Historically, politically and internationally, the agreement has been dubbed the Contract of the Century and is reflected in 400 pages and 4 languages.

On August 16, 2001, the President of Azerbaijan signed a decree according to which the Day of Oilers of Azerbaijan is celebrated on September 20.

The Contract of the Century, both in terms of the number of hydrocarbon reserves and the volume of investments, was included in the list of the largest agreements. Of the $64 billion of investments envisaged by the oil agreements, 57.6 billion will be invested in the development of offshore fields and exploration work at promising structures.

Since the implementation of the “Contract of the Century”, the Azerbaijani economy has undergone a turning point, and huge works have begun. First of all, in 1995, as part of the primary oil production project, the Chirag-1 platform was restored in accordance with international standards, and in order to drill wells of greater inclination, the upper module of the platform was modernized and equipped with new equipment.

At the 1999 OSCE Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, the presidents of the United States, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed an interstate agreement on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) “main export oil pipeline”.

On September 18, 2002, with the participation of President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, Presidents of Turkey and Georgia, the foundation was laid and construction of the BTC was started. In October 2004, the Azerbaijani and Georgian sections of the main export pipeline were connected. In the future, this pipeline will not only transport Azerbaijani oil to world markets, but will also become the main main line of the Silk Road and Turkic-speaking states. The choice of the BTC route was a celebration of the great policy of the national leader Heydar Aliyev and it will enter the oil pipeline system as a world artery.