On October 17, SOCAR AQS and China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. - IC İçtaş Construction Industries & Trade Inc. JV announced that they had signed drilling contract for the Expansion of Tuz Golu underground gas storage project.

Report informs that as per the contract, SOCAR AQS shall drill and deliver 40 wells in the Tuz Golu area of Aksaray region of Turkey. The contract value is estimated to be in multi-millions of US dollars.

Murat Mehmet Kurtulush, General Director IC İçtaş said: “Today's signing ceremony gives a new impetus to the expansion and deepening of cooperation between the two companies and ultimately, between the two countries. The expansion of Tuz Golu underground gas storage is vital for meeting the natural gas demand of Turkey, and SOCAR AQS will contribute to successful execution of this mission.”

Ramin Isayev, CEO of SOCAR AQS said: “SOCAR AQS appreciates this significant opportunity to work with China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. - IC İçtaş Construction Industries & Trade Inc. on this important project. We look forward to utilizing full potential of our company, to working in close cooperation with our business partners and stakeholders to make this project a great success for Turkey, our Client and SOCAR AQS’’.

During the implementation of the project, SOCAR AQS will also utilize infrastructure of local Turkish business partners and the company will invest in further training and development of young Turkish drilling specialists.

SOCAR AQS is an integrated drilling and well services company established in 2007 by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Absheron Drilling Company. The company’s main scope of services includes oil and gas wells drilling, well design and planning, drilling of directionally deviated wells, drilling of horizontal wells, well completion, well workover, sidetracking and drilling of multilateral wells. The company also provides industry specific supply chain management, warehouse management and other related services.

Currently, SOCAR AQS executes oil and gas well drilling with 6 rigs on 5 platforms in 4 offshore oil and gas fields including Shallow Water Gunashli, West Absheron, Umid and Bulla.

The company has 1112 employees, of which the majority are Azerbaijan citizens. SOCAR AQS has been awarded and implements contracts in Ukraine and Bangladesh.

The company has been a contractor member of the IADC since 2009. SOCAR AQS has been certified as compliant with the API Spec Q2 Quality Management System Standard for the Provision of Integrated Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling & Well Services. The company is the first and the only company in the region to have the API Spec Q2 Certificate.

SOCAR AQS’s shareholders are SOCAR, Nobel Oil Services and ‘’Absheron Qazma” LLC.

Locomotive company of IC İbrahim Çeçen Yatırım Holding A.S., IC İÇTAŞ CONSTRUCTION is a global company preferred in Turkey and international macro scale projects with its over 50 years long experience and knowledge and is on the front row in Turkish and international sector lists.

IC İÇTAŞ CONSTRUCTION delivered many successful projects such as airport constructions, port constructions, marina constructions, high speed train projects, road and bridge constructions, high capacity power plants, smart buildings, business centers, tourism facilities, irrigation system constructions, public buildings, collective housing, health facilities, university and school constructions since its foundation in 1969.

Besides construction projects, company also successfully continues its activities in sea port and marina operation fields.

IC İÇTAŞ CONSTRUCTION is an active player in production and distribution fields with its investments in the energy sector as well.