Of all the countries where International Exploration & Production has operations, Statoil in Azerbaijan is the first to be certified to the environmental standard ISO 14001.
Issued on 25 June, the certification is valid for three years. It means that Statoil's operations meet international requirements and standards for environmental management.
The certification embraces operations in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Statoil currently exports oil from Azerbaijan to the oil terminal at Supsa in Georgia. The group is also a partner in the pipeline project from Azerbaijan, via Georgia to Turkey.
Since the beginning of this year, the entire staff at Statoil's office in the Azeri capital Baku, have been involved in the development and quality assurance of its environmental management system. According to Karl Sjøen, manager for the certification project, this work has been performed in less than six months. Normally such a process takes over a year to complete.
"We haven't designed any new system for Azerbaijan but we have used Statoil's established environmental management principles," comments Mr Sjøen. "For a group like Statoil with such a clear environmental profile, it is important to receive documentation of our strong focus on environmental work."
The environmental management system is a tool for continuous improvement in the environmental area. External auditors will review the system annually to ensure that business operations continue to comply with the standard's requirements.