Azeri state energy firm SOCAR plans to issue Eurobonds in March, the firm's president said on Friday, following a sharp fall in global oil prices. "We plan to issue Eurobonds before the end of March," Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters. "It's linked to the declining oil price," he said, adding that details of the upcoming issue would be announced next week.
SOCAR, which is 100 percent owned by the Azeri government, is a key contributor to the state budget and has seen its revenues shrink along with the almost 50 percent slide in benchmark Brent crude oil prices since last summer.
A company executive told Reuters in January that an average oil price of $60 per barrel would reduce SOCAR's revenues by $510 million but that the firm could manage by regulating spending.
Suleiman Gasymov, SOCAR vice president, said the company's annual dividends of $300-$400 million from participation in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project, operated by British oil major BP , might be reduced by 50 percent this year, if oil prices remain at their current level.
Oil and gas account for 95 percent of Azerbaijan's exports and 75 percent of government revenues.
Hit by the fall in global oil prices, the Russian rouble's slide and the separatist war inUkraine, the South Caucasus country devalued its manat currency last month.
ANN.Az
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