On June 2, the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (ASOIU) and bp signed an agreement to start a new higher education degree in renewable energy sources.
The agreement is underpinned by bp's two-million-dollar social investment initiative to develop the next generation of national engineers specialising in renewable energy.
This will be a brand-new academic course of study for the country, allowing the university to commence training professionals who will support Azerbaijan's energy transition efforts and drive its new energy era.
"We believe the future of the Caspian is about future partnerships. And these partnerships should go beyond oil and gas to cover new areas such as renewables. The project we are commencing today represents just one of the opportunities for joining our efforts to help Azerbaijan's smooth transition to its new energy era. The professionals to be trained through this university programme will pave the way to the country's energy future using the new skills and capabilities the country will need, operating the new facilities the country will build and applying the new technologies the world is working to develop. This project is entirely about the future, which we believe will be as bright as the past 30 years of our partnership with Azerbaijan." The statement came from Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp's vice president for the Caspian region, communications and advocacy.
The agreement follows the Protocol of Intent earlier signed by bp and the Ministry of Education to cooperate in developing a university degree in renewable energy-related disciplines at one of the local universities through a partnership with a UK university. It has been decided to base the course at ASOIU – one of Azerbaijan's leading universities with over a century-long experience in training oil and gas engineers.
ASOIU Rector, Professor Mustafa Babanli said: "We see this as a brilliant opportunity for our university and are grateful to have it. It enables us to directly contribute to our country's low carbon future through broadening the degrees of engineering we have been offering for over a century and embracing newly emerging areas of clean energy production technologies. We look forward to partnering with a UK university, which has to be selected yet, to join our expertise, knowledge and experience to make this forward-looking programme a success."
bp has been present in Azerbaijan for 30 years, safely, efficiently and reliably operating major oil and gas exploration, development and transportation projects. To date, together with its co-venturers, bp has invested around $84 billion into projects it operates in the country. Overall, since the start, bp itself and its co-venturers in the joint ventures that bp operates in Azerbaijan have spent around $101 million on social investment projects in this country. In Azerbaijan, bp directly employs around 2,250 Azerbaijani citizens, who make up over 90 per cent of the company's professional staff.
