After the discovery of oil fields, Baku became a special place, where various economic and political interests of international coalitions, industrial clans and leaders were concentrated and clashed. VK begins publishing chapters from the book by Ismail Agakishiyev "History of the Baku Oil Industry and the Second Oil Boom (second half of the 19th century - beginning of the 20thcentury)" The book presents a historical analysis of the emergence and current state of the Azerbaijani oil industry.
Soon after the signing of the contract, a new body – the Azerbaijani International Operation Company (AIOC) - was created. It included representatives of the government and of all the companies. Half of the places on the board of directors belonged to SOCAR and the Azerbaijani government. The task of this new body was to perform the annual working programs approved by the consortium. AIOC worked on the conditions of the “Contract of the Century”, this was its main task. British Petroleum was the operator of the contract, therefore its representative Terry Adams was elected the president of the new body.
AIOC was registered in 1994, while its first meeting took place on January 24th 1995. According to the president of AIOC, although in 1995 “many predicted that we would never reach our goal,” by 1998 “this company went to the global level.” It was not an easy task to create a company like that. AIOC in its structure was a foreign oil consortium, a joint company created by the foreign oil corporations, located in Baku and working in cooperation with SOCAR. AIOC was a company without profit or losses, created specifically for working in the oil deposits. Foreign companies provided AIOC with the financial resources to cover the capital operational expenses. Each foreign company gets its share in the project from the oil revenues and each company is responsible for paying taxes under the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A Senior Management Department (SMD) was created as part of the AIOC, responsible for the following range of issues: business, operations, safety, worker's health protection, environment, export of crude oil, issues of territorial logistics and transportation.
Initially, the number of Azerbaijani citizens in the AIOC, including engineers, administrative employees and managers of oil and gas operations, was to amount to 30-50% of the total staff and 70% of the workers. In the future, the share of workers was rise to 100%, and the AIOC was to very quickly become an Azerbaijani company, backed by foreign specialists. At first, the AIOC was a small organization consisting of eight people, who rented a modest room in the building of the Azerbaijani Encyclopaedia in the Old City of Baku. Subsequently, the AIOC moved to the "Villa Petrolia". The newly-renovated building of the AIOC with a total area of 7.5 thousand square meters had office space for approximately 300 employees. The rooms were decorated with paintings by Azerbaijani artists, worth about 20 thousand dollars.
The AIOC also built a comfortable town for oil workers employed at "Shelfstroi". Business representatives and intellectuals of the Azerbaijani Republic pinned great hopes on the large, very rich foreign oil companies equipped with advanced technologies that arrived in Azerbaijan to work under the contract. There are examples when big money and correct investment strategies have completely changed the infrastructure of a country, turned it from a backward into a highly-developed country, as had happened in Singapore and Kuwait. Money created very comfortable conditions, produced a revolution in people's minds in a short period of time and radically changed the mentality of the local population. All the initiatives of companies working in Azerbaijan were marked by high quality. Excellent working conditions, nutrition and training met the expectations of people and were gradually introduced to the lives of the people by international oil companies. All in all, 76 helicopters were allocated for the needs of the consortium in 1996.
Technical staff and crew were represented both by citizens of Azerbaijan and foreign companies of the consortium. The AOIC camp on the shores of a deepwater plant and the territory of "Shelfstroi" became the starting ground of the consortium. About $4 million was spent on construction of the camp, according to its general manager. Construction of the camp began in April and ended in July 1995. The camp was designed for 250 people. It contained 48 modular houses, populated by repairmen of the "Kaspmorneft" rig and modules from the "Chirag-1" platform. Workers spent two weeks in the town, until the end of their shift. All amenities were created for them: warm and cosy houses, a shop, free laundry services, an emergency medical center, designed for first aid and hospital treatment of patients. The complex consisted of reception areas, advisory and transaction offices. Emergency aid was organized according to the highest international standards. Doctors monitored the quality of food and drinking water. A free dining room was designed to serve 200 people at once. Food and even drinking water were initially supplied by the British company "Calvin Catering." Of the 29 employees of the canteen, only two were foreigners
