Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar and France-based Technip Energies have joined forces to study sustainability measures in the offshore upstream activities, including evaluation of a joint pilot project for offshore floating wind.

The pilot project envisages energy supply for Socar’s operations in the Caspian Sea and would be the first case of offshore wind energy production in Azerbaijan. The goal is to determine the prospects for the supply of renewable energy to the upstream sector of Azerbaijan, which is currently powered by electricity generated from natural gas.

“The energy efficiency is in the focus of many energy companies and is an important part of Socar’s strategic plans. In line with the development trends of technology, we are already entering this area,” said Rovnag Abdullayev, Socar president.

With this move, Socar joins Norwegian energy giant Equinor, which is looking to power its oil and gas platforms off Norway with the 88 MW Hywind Tampen floating wind project. Green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds is also looking to slash UK North Sea emissions with its proposed 200-turbine floating wind and hydrogen development off the coast of Scotland.

TechnipFMC spinoff, Technip Energies, which provides engineering and construction services in LNG, hydrogen production, sustainable chemistry, biofuels, and other fields, has previously helped the modernisation project of Socar Azerkimya petrochemical complex which started back in 2016.