Foreign investment into Azerbaijan rose 22 pct in Jan-Apr

Foreign capital investment in Azerbaijan's economy rose 22 percent to 1.44 billion manats ($1.8 billion) in January-April 2014, with the bulk of it going into the energy sector, a source at the State Statistics committee said.

He said the rise in investment was linked to the start of purchases of equipment for the major Shah Deniz project.

"Foreign investment in Azerbaijan's oil sector rose by 32.1 percent year-on-year in January-April this year," said the source, who did not want to be named.

He added investments mainly came from Britain, Turkey, the United States, Norway and France.

"Companies from these countries are main suppliers of equipment for the Shah Deniz project."

Shah Deniz, Azerbaijan's biggest gas field, is being developed by consortium partners including Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Azeri state energy company SOCAR.

Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006 and has an annual production capacity of about 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas.

The next phase, Shah Deniz II, is important for Europe in providing an alternative gas supply to Russia's Gazprom . It is expected to produce 16 bcm of gas per year from around 2019, with 10 bcm earmarked for Europe and 6 bcm for Turkey.

Capital investment from foreign investors in Azerbaijan was $5.3 billion in 2013.

Bakudaily.az