Azerbaijan will continue to develop partnerships with other countries as it tries to export more natural gas west from the Caspian basin, an official of the country's state-owned oil company said. This will involve not only potential customers, but also other producers in the region, he added.

"We're really looking hard to make this 37th oil and gas contract Azerbaijan has concluded the contract of the 21st century," Vitaliy Baylarbayov, deputy vice-president for investment and marketing at State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), said of the Dec. 17, 2013, agreement, which represented the final investment decision for the second stage of development of Shah Deniz gas field.

"This achievement to spend money and build something which we've all tried to establish as a strategic goal involved many people and groups," he said during a Mar. 4 appearance at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

"The choices were not easy, financially or technically," he maintained, adding, "But because of intensive negotiations within the partnership itself, we reached an agreement we all could celebrate."

He said, "What we have is a project of international scale. Seven countries and six different regulatory systems are directly involved. It's not easy to satisfy regulatory requirements in Georgia, in Turkey, in Azerbaijan, and in Europe. Many companies also will be involved, both from outside and in our own country."

ANN.Az