Baku, October 5, AZERTAC

The Oil & Gas Year (TOGY), a series of annual, country-specific business reports on hydrocarbons producing countries worldwide - has appointed a new research team for Azerbaijan to prepare its third energy report on the country.

After celebrating the Contract of the Century's 20th anniversary in last year's edition, launched in January 2015 at the Fairmont hotel in Baku, TOGY announced that it will continue to provide the most comprehensive business intelligence report dedicated to Azerbaijan's energy industry in 2016.

The team of analysts includes Karen Kumbasar, Country Director, Albéric Mongrenier and Vladimir Gulyk, Country Editors.

Armed with a good track record, based on its multi-year collaboration with SOCAR, the team is currently conducting high-level meetings with public and private sector leaders in Azerbaijan and the region.

TOGY forecasts that the Azerbaijani energy sector, driven by major upstream projects such as Shah Deniz II, new offshore exploration works, midstream projects such as the strategic Southern Gas Corridor project and ambitious downstream developments, is poised for further growth in 2016 despite the global oil price downturn.

"Changes in the global energy industry are pushing the actors of the sector to reinvent their strategies and increase efficiency along the whole value-chain, and the strategic nature of Azerbaijan's energy projects guarantees their reliability over the long-term," Kumbasar said. "These projects are going to require large volumes of foreign investment in the coming years, and TOGY aims at providing both local and international investors with the critical information they need," she added.

"The Oil & Gas Year team have acted with the highest standards and produced the best resource for our oil and gas industry...this book is not for [those in attendance] but for the international community to be aware of what we are trying to achieve," said Elshad Nasirov, SOCAR's VP for investments and marketing, during the Azerbaijan 2015 book launch.

Eric Gay, Regional Director for the CIS, said "TOGY is delighted to back working closely with SOCAR for our new edition on Azerbaijan. The country remains a key investment haven for the global energy sector in light of the current market conditions in other hydrocarbons provinces".

He observed that key projects such as Shah Deniz II, the Southern Gas Corridor, and potential collaboration with Iran are on the lips of oil and gas executives and government official both in Azerbaijan and abroad, which provides a very interesting perspective for this new report.

Recently audited by Business Publications Audit of Circulations (BPA) Worldwide, The Oil & Gas Year is a series of executive reports produced in more than 35 countries. Its readership includes 69,000 high-level government and private sector executives in 101 countries.