Baku, 13 August 2009
AssA-Irada News Agency

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on Thursday signed a grant agreement worth $572,068 on creating a new waste disposal center.

According to the deal, the Azerbaijani energy company will tackle setting up such an up-to-date facility and announce a tender among foreign consulting companies for the purpose. A feasibility study will determine the economic, financial and technical viability of the project.

The center to be built will allow not only managing various types of oil waste, but also carrying out re-processing with the use of cutting-edge technologies.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, who co-signed the document along with USTDA’s acting Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia, David Hester, said comprehensive clean-up is currently underway in the oil-polluted areas run by the company, however, new waste continues to emerge in the course of production.

Abdullayev added that, though SOCAR already runs a center receiving and burying drilling sludge, the facility has been in operation since 1985 and has become obsolete.