Italiana Petroli deal boosts SOCAR downstream business

SOCAR’s acquisition of Italiana Petroli will substantially enhance the diversification of the state energy company’s refining and marketing (downstream) operations, Fitch Ratings Director for EMEA Corporate Ratings Jakub Zasada announced at the "Fitch in Azerbaijan" event in Baku.

Zasada noted that Fitch factors in potential state backing when assessing SOCAR's standalone and long-term issuer ratings, categorizing the likelihood of government support as "extremely high" given historical capital injections and SOCAR’s strategic systemic weight in Azerbaijan’s economy.

The agency representative added that improvements in the company's financial indicators have positively shifted its credit profile, noting that SOCAR has successfully scaled natural gas output against a broader backdrop of declining crude production volumes.

N.Tebrizli