The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has three main tasks for
preliminary explorations: research, forecasts and overcoming possible
catastrophes from hydrocarbon resources in the Azerbaijani sector of
the Caspian Sea, the head of the ecological department of SOCAR, Azer
Aliyev, said on Tuesday, commenting on the explosions on BP's
Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to an
oil spill, Trend reports.
All energy projects in Azerbaijan have to estimate possible risks,
such as geological problems that may occur during drilling.
Aliyev said that SOCAR has its own plan to manage waste in order to
clean up pollution, by reducing and preventing such incidents.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations is responsible for oil spills and
explosions, with the necessary boats and equipment to conduct
clean-ups.
According to Aliyev, the projects implemented with BP meet the latest
ecological standards, more than other country in the world.
He said that the Caspian Sea and the Gulf of Mexico cannot be
compared. The borehole in the Gulf of Mexico is 1500 metres deep,
while Caspian ones are only several hundred metres deep.
Aliyev noted that they will not review the standards, which are very
strict, despite the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. However, they
will take try to learn from the experience of cleaning up in the Gulf
of Mexico.
The explosion on Deepwater Horizon took place on April 20th. The oil
platform sunk 2 days after the explosion. A huge oil spill is offshore
of the state of Lousiana, threatening to reach the coast. BP has taken
responsibility for the accident on itself.
