IOGP’s latest member, SOCAR, is the state oil company of the Azerbaijan Republic.
As early as the Middle Ages, Azerbaijan was exporting its oil, which was used as a household fuel as well as for medicinal and military purposes. By 1901, Azerbaijan had become the world’s largest oil producer.
SOCAR itself dates back to 1992 when the newly-independent Azerbaijan established its national oil company as part of a wider development effort.
Today, SOCAR’s remit covers oil and gas exploration, production, processing, transport, and marketing. Upstream activities are focused on domestic operations. In the first half of this year, total oil production in Azerbaijan increased by 1.2% to 19.4 million tonnes of oil; gas was up 3.1% to 14.4 billion cubic metres.