China after old oil wells in Azerbaijan

In line with its economic growth, China is venturing into oil-rich countries to satisfy its energy needs. Its government decided to obtain the oil left in the old crude wells in Azerbaijan, Turkish "Zaman" writes.

The Beijing administration has developed a new type of technology to access oil left in the Azerbaijani wells, said Yasar Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Beijing, when he briefed reporters on the bilateral ties with China.

The first significant step towards improving official ties with China was taken when Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev went to Beijing last year, said the Ambassador regarding the developments in trade and culture.

China has on average nine percent economic growth yearly, which in turn is leading to an increasing depletion of energy sources.

The county therefore continues its investment in Azerbaijan which has about 150 million barrels oil output a year. The old generation of technology from 1854, when the first search for oil began, is still used to access oil in Azerbaijan. Thatis why there is not fill access to the crude left in those wells. Search for oil at sea would be expensive, so China is developing a new technology to get full access to the Azerbaijani old oil.

It has been 14 years since Azerbaijan established diplomatic ties with China, and there have been great enhancement on almost every single area of interest, said the Azerbaijani Ambassador.

When the Azerbaijani president visited China last year, 13 contracts were signed, totaling over 20. The volume of business has increased by 4,188 percent in 2005, though it was only around $1.5 million 13 years ago.

The Chinese interest in Azerbaijan is rather related to the field of energy than other areas, said Aliyev.

Sixty Chinese students study at an Azerbaijani university and the cultural development between the two countries continues.

The Azerbaijani Air Lines is providing two flights a week to the city of Urumqi, the central part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Southern China Airlines began flights once a week from Urumci to Baku as of 7 March 2006.