Azerbaijan’s state oil firm plans floating offshore wind pilot

Azerbaijan’s state oil company is planning a single-turbine floating offshore wind pilot project to decarbonise upstream oil and gas activities in the Caspian Sea.

Socar (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) has signed a cooperation agreement with France-based engineering firm Technip Energies for the project.

The two companies will evaluate the pilot project as part of a wider study of sustainability measures in offshore upstream activities, including carbon emission reduction and improving power efficiency.

If the pilot goes ahead, it would be the first offshore wind project off Azerbaijan.

Neither company has confirmed a planned turbine capacity, floating platform or expected commissioning date.

Upstream operations – exploration and production oil and gas – in the Caspian Sea typically use electricity generated from natural gas, Socar noted.

Through the pilot project, Socar and Technip Energies aim to determine prospects for using clean energy to reduce the carbon footprint of the upstream sector in Azerbaijan.

The project is similar to Equinor’s Hywind Tampen project, which it plan to use to power oil and gas platforms in the Norwegian North Sea.

Azerbaijan has 112MW of operational onshore wind capacity, according to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly.