Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.24 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
In mid-January 2011 the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will commission several gas stations in Ukraine under its own brand, a source in SOCAR said today.
He said a ceremony of official opening of 5-6 gas stations in Ukraine's Odessa and Nikolayev oblasts will be held on Jan.15, 2011.
At present, severeal gas stations are already operating under SOCAR brand in Ukraine.
SOCAR plans to open 30 gas stations in Ukraine by late 2011, Elchin Mammadov, the head of the company in Ukraine, said earlier. He said that a network of gas stations is created by buying the existing ones or building new gas stations.
Previously, SOCAR acquired 20 gas stations in Ukraine. This project is only part of a larger program the company's activity in Ukraine, in particular, on large-scale retail sales of oil products on the country's market.
SOCAR has a network of about 50 filling stations in Georgia and began to create a network of gas stations in Azerbaijan. Also the company has already announced intentions to enter the retail market of oil products of Romania, which means access to the EU market.
