Azerbaijan

Azeri Energy Minister Natig Aliyev died on June 9, a day after being transferred to hospital in Istanbul for treatment for a heart complaint, Azeri news agency APA-Economics reported.

The 69-year-old veteran executive in Azerbaijan's energy sector was president of state energy company SOCAR and chaired the company's board of directors between 1993 and 2005.

Greece will launch a new tender competition for the privatization of its natural gas grid operator DESFA in June, Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis said on Tuesday.

Stathakis announced the tender in an interview with Greek news website liberal.gr without disclosing details.

Azerbaijan's state-run energy company SOCAR, a majority stakeholder of Turkish petrochemical maker Petkim, is aiming to make an additional investment worth up to $3 billion in Turkey, SOCAR Turkey chair Vagif Aliyev has said.

"SOCAR is working on a new investment for petrochemical products. The new facility may become a second Petkim," Aliyev said in an interview in Baku.

Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed a deal on June 1 to help their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) secure easier access to the global e-commerce market.        

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will give priority to applications regarding press freedom and journalists, in line with a recent amendment to its bylaw, according to a May 31 report by Deutsche Welle.

British oil company BP expects to sign a contract at the end of June extending its production sharing deal for Azerbaijan's biggest oilfields until 2050, the company's regional head said on May 31.

Gas from Turkmenistan could be transferred to other countries through Turkey once the Southern Gas Corridor is commissioned, the head of the Transit Petroleum Pipeline Department at Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said May 30.

Greece will begin the process of opening up new onshore oil and gas prospects to exploration next year, the chief executive of the country's oil and gas resources management company said on Monday.

May 29 Greece will begin the process of opening up new onshore oil and gas prospects to exploration next year, the chief executive of the country’s oil and gas resources management company said on Monday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 22 criticized Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimiyan over his remarks largely focusing on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Summit in Istanbul.