BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 24. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) plans to implement strategic initiatives to reduce the intensity of freshwater consumption in the coming years, Head of Division Environmental Management Planning at SOCAR Medina Hajiyeva said during a roundtable discussion titled "Water Security in Azerbaijan: Regulation, Risk, and Responsible Business Action," held in Baku, Trend reports.
According to her, the company is engaged not only in oil and gas exploration but also in refining and petrochemical production, which involves the withdrawal of significant volumes of water resources, including freshwater.
"We are currently conducting strategic planning to reduce the intensity of freshwater consumption by implementing appropriate initiatives. This will include infrastructure development, increased wastewater recycling, and the implementation of closed-loop water recycling at water-intensive facilities," Hajiyeva explained.
She mentioned that SOCAR has been diligently crafting a sustainability report over the past three years, undergoing thorough review and revisions by Ernst & Young.
"Since SOCAR exports products not only to Russia and post-Soviet countries but also to Europe, we take high-quality reporting very seriously. We meticulously account for and report on every drop of water used. This year, we are taking an important step by introducing key performance indicators for the water sector. While companies typically include facilities that account for 90% of their total freshwater intake, we have decided to include every SOCAR organization using more than 1% of the total water volume in our key performance indicator reporting system. This will cover production operations, all oil and gas platforms, and petrochemical production," she noted.
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