1. 12/20/2016 Murad Sadikhov: Upstairs, Downstairs - The Business Year
https://www.thebusinessyear.com/azerbaijan-2013/upstairs-downstairs/interview 1/2
BIOGRAPHY
Murad Sadikhov’s career began at
the Institute of Physics at the
Academy of Science of Azerbaijan
in 1990. He then worked as Chief
Economist of the Project Evaluation
Unit and at the Department of
External Resources and Foreign
Investment at the Ministry of
Economy. He has also worked as a
Consultant at the Private Sector
Development Network, the
Economic Development Institute of
the World Bank, UNDP, and the
Mitsubishi Corporation. Since 2003,
he has had several executive
positions at companies such as
Mitsubishi Corporation, BP AzSPU,
and NORM LLC.
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS
Azerbaijan 2013 | ENERGY | INTERVIEW
TBY talks to Murad Sadikhov, General Manager of Nobel Oil, on the history of the company, developing a wide
portfolio of operations, and the foreign investment environment.
What is the history of Nobel Oil in Azerbaijan?
Nobel Oil started its activity in Azerbaijan in 2005 as an engineering and services company. The company's
main focus was in the oil and gas production services area, having entered the market offering services
relating to the rehabilitation of old elds and work on oil wells. Later, we expanded our activities into
integrated engineering services relating to rotating equipment, such as gas compressors, engines, and
generators. We currently cover a full portfolio of services, starting from the design stage of green eld
facilities, the upgrading of brown eld operations with modern technology, operations and maintenance,
overhaul, supervision, spare parts supply, and more. We have completed several ambitious projects, such as
work on 72 offshore wells, as well as the installation and upgrade of gas compressor stations.
Who are your main customers here?
Nobel Oil is closely cooperating with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and its
production unions. Following demand from the energy sector in Azerbaijan, we are expanding our activities
to catch up with the organic growth opportunities that are evolving in the region. Nobel Oil is building its
competitive advantage around four business functions. The rst function is called integrated energy
services, and we continue to expand and develop our drilling operations and capabilities, work-over skills,
operation and maintenance of oil and gas processing facilities, and oil and gas production facilitation
services. Second is procurement and supply chain management. We aim to participate in various projects
relating to the supply of goods and services, as well as long-term logistics supply projects in the region. The
third function that is being formed is an engineering and project management function. With experience
accumulated in the delivery of integrated services for rotating equipment, we have created the capabilities
required to participate in various engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects as a turnkey
contractor or local integrated sub-contractor to international general EPC contractors. The energy sector in
Azerbaijan is booming and SOCAR leads these multibillion-dollar projects. Competition is very erce, and
we are actively working in order to become a quali ed local partner for the big international players. Last
but not the least is upstream. Together with SOCAR, we started exploration activities at the Umid eld,
where our af liate has a 20% interest. The early production of gas and condensate that started at Umid has
opened up a new era for Nobel Oil as an upstream player. We are proud that our contribution to the project
in form of competence, know-how, as well as equipment and investment, made this happen. It was the rst
gas condensate eld that was discovered since Azerbaijan obtained independence without the participation of “oil majors."
Production started on September 18, 2012 at a rate of 1.2 million cubic meters per day of gas and about 160 tons of condensate. Currently,
gas is being supplied to the national grid network, and we are now discussing the action plan for full- eld development with SOCAR in order
to increase the production of this eld drastically. The total reserves of this eld are around 200 billion cubic meters, but we will continue the
appraisal process and we believe this will increase further after the appraisal is nished.
What is your outlook for the oil and gas sector in 2013?
Overall, 2013 will be very challenging for us because we need to make adequate resource allocation to participate in a number of big projects
to be implemented by SOCAR and BP in the region. We would like to participate in every project, but we must plan properly and mobilize our
resources to successfully implement every project. One example includes a re nery project in Turkey, two fertilizer projects in Azerbaijan and
Georgia, a gas-processing plant, and more. All these projects are large scale, so big players from all over the world are ghting to get them. As
a local sub-contractor we could be of bene t to them and we have an appetite to be involved in every project. Again, it is a big challenge to
get the project and there will be huge competition, not only among the companies, but also for the resources, because everyone will need to
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2. 12/20/2016 Murad Sadikhov: Upstairs, Downstairs - The Business Year
https://www.thebusinessyear.com/azerbaijan-2013/upstairs-downstairs/interview 2/2
Azerbaijan
2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DIPLOMACY
ECONOMY
FINANCE
ENERGY
Review: Energy
Fuels of Change
Interview
HE Natiq Aliyev, Minister of Industry and Energy, the Republic of Azerbaijan
Interview
Rovnag Abdullayev, President, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic
Interview
Gordon Birrell, Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, BP
Interview
Lars Troen Sørensen, President, Statoil Azerbaijan
Guest Speaker
Gustaf Nobel, Chairman, Nobel Sustainability Trust
Focus: Caspian Gas to Europe
Decision Makers
Interview
Christian Giudicelli, General Manager, Total
Interview
William Grace, General Manager, Schlumberger
Interview
Murad Sadikhov, General Manager , Nobel Oil
Focus: Electricity
Network Results
INDUSTRY & MINING
TELECOMS & IT
TRANSPORT
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
AGRICULTURE
SOCIAL, HEALTH & EDUCATION
TOURISM & SPORTS
EXECUTIVE GUIDE
mobilize an adequate number of quali ed engineers and skilled workers. I expect 2013 will be a very promising year for contractors and a
dif cult year from a competition perspective.
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