The acquisition of Italiana Petroli will improve SOCAR’s diversification in the refining and sales, or downstream, segment, Jakub Zasada, EMEA Director for Corporate Ratings at Fitch Ratings, said at the “Fitch in Azerbaijan” event held in Baku, APA-Economics reports.
He noted that when assessing SOCAR’s rating, Fitch also takes into account the support that may be provided to the company by the Azerbaijani government.
According to Zasada, the likelihood of state support for SOCAR is assessed as “extremely high.” This assessment takes into account the historical allocation of capital and cash to the company, as well as SOCAR’s important role in the Azerbaijani economy.
He said that improvements in financial indicators have also affected changes in the company’s credit profile.
The Fitch official noted that SOCAR’s oil production has declined, while gas production has increased.
Referring to the acquisition of Italiana Petroli last year, Zasada said Fitch expects the transaction to strengthen the diversification of SOCAR’s downstream business.
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