By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

SOCAR, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, will build nine gas stations at new Istanbul airport, the company said on November 23.

SOCAR won the relevant tender. The gas stations will become operational from December 31, 2018. Five stations will operate on the platform, one - in the area of cargo transportation, two - in the parking area, another one will be served by the taxi drivers' cooperative. Every day, these gas stations of SOCAR will serve about 10,000 cars.

Chairman of the Board of SOCAR Turkey Vagif Aliyev, whose words are quoted in the message, noted that the company will, for the first time, begin serving customers in Turkey by opening petrol stations.

Aliyev said that SOCAR entered the Turkish market in 2008 by acquiring Petkim, and to date has invested $ 14.2 billion in such projects as the STAR refinery, the Trans-Anatolian pipeline, the container terminal Petlim, and the Petkim wind station. Recently, the territory in the city of Aliaga, where all the SOCAR projects in Turkey are located, was named the first private industrial region. Brotherly Turkey is a very important country for us, stressed Aliyev.

As the Chairman of the Board noted, the opening of gas stations at the largest airport in the world is a strategic step in terms of brand awareness and establishing direct contacts with consumers.

He added that the company always evaluates new opportunities in the gas station sector and closely follows the processes occurring in the market, not excluding that in the future, SOCAR could invest in this sector.

The opening of a new airport took place in Istanbul on October 29. The construction of the airport cost 10 billion Turkish liras ($1.9 billion). The airport is capable of receiving 200 million passengers annually.

Founded in 2008, SOCAR Turkey, officially entitled “SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.?.”, is one of the world companies.

With its total investment volume of $ 19.5 billion to be realized by 2020, SOCAR is the biggest foreign investor of Turkey. Similarly, SOCAR’s group of companies in Turkey, namely Petkim, STAR Refinery, Petlim Container Terminal and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) represent the

SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and gas fields from the Caspian Sea.

SOCAR includes the oil and gas enterprises and the Azeri oil and gas industry, and the companies that produce oil and gas onshore and offshore involved in geophysical and drilling operations.