Caspian is no North Sea

Not all foreign companies engaged in oil production in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian fully observe environmental policy requirements, as most of them simply dump drilling cuttings into the sea, according to the president of the International EcoEnergy Academy professor Fagan Aliyev.

He said such activities of foreign companies is explained by the fact that to transport the wastes to the shore requires additional expenses, which, in its turn, raises the cost of oil. Although there an oil waste management site in the Garadagh district of Baku, none of the foreign companies except BP uses it. “Specialists of foreign companies often refer to the North Sea as an example, where they release the wastes right into the sea. But unlike the North Sea, Caspian is an inland body of water and any pollution of it threatens with an ecological catastrophe”, prof. Aliyev said.*