Wednesday 23 April 2014

Union Grand Energy - Committed to Smart and Sustainable Development

Our focus doing business, at home and overseas, is on developing and finding new technologies to be more competitive and efficient in our ventures and services.

We call it smart and sustainable development.

What does that mean in our projects and partnerships?

We can see, for example, in our work with international partners on the massive Baku White City redevelopment venture, that our use of new forms of technologies to reclaim abandoned land and build 21st century infrastructure using the latest environment-friendly methods. This kind of public and private partnership, where we combine expertise, investment and cutting edge modern resources, is a model for our business.

Likewise, our upstream oil project at Azerbaijan's Surakhani Oil field, where we have made massive investments to rehabilitate decayed and decrepit facilities, transforming the infrastructure and totally renewing  producing assets, with more than 60 new wells drilled, and more than doubling volumes (you can view images here).

On all our projects we take seriously our mission to not just upgrade facilities but to work actively to improve economic and social conditions for our workers and citizens, including good salaries and jobs. At Surakhani we have kept and added jobs, paid millions in taxes, and continue to invest and reinvest in the community.

You can find more information about what we are doing, these ventures and others at our company website, www.uegpte.com

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Union Grand Energy priorities: Bringing new life, social, and economic activity to our historic urban areas

One of our projects at Union Grand Energy that will revitalize the landscape of Baku is our White City development. 

Working closely with international ventures like Atkins (UK), Foster and Partners (UK) and our Azerbaijan partners, White City is being built as one of the biggest urban development and land reclamation projects constructed on land ecologically reclaimed from a former industrial zone.

Our company mission on all the projects we undertake is to bring high-tech innovation to each of our ventures, in the process creating new work, social activity and economic progress, transforming old and obsolete infrastructure into modern restorations and renewals.

You can see more about White City at www.bakuwhitecity.com, and also the
brief summary here:

- One of the biggest

Baku White City will be one of the largest modern projects in  the world, built entirely on ecologically reclaimed industrial zone

- 221 ha development

Baku White City will encompass 221 ha, making it largest development in Caucasus region - 11 times the size of Iceri Shahar in Baku and bigger than Monaco

- 50 000 residents


When completed Baku White City will be able to accommodate approximately 50,000 people, which is approximately equal to the population size of Andorra

- 39 ha landscape

1/3 size of the Hyde Park - one of the largest parks in London

- 10 districts

Baku White City consists of 10 neighboring districts. The effective use of land for the development of each district  is crucial for the realisation of the entire masterplan.

- about 3.5 mln sqm gross built area

- up to 18 000 residential and commercial units

- 48 000 workplaces


When completed Baku White City will be able to provide 48 000 workplaces.

Business in Baku, Business in Dubai

People ask me all the time about what it is like to do business in Baku and Dubai.

I remind them that we also have business activities in Turkey and Singapore, so we can say that we are really an international company increasingly doing business around the world.

I would say that Baku and Azerbaijan remain the place where we think of as home, where we develop and do our core business.

We are known in the Caspian region and CIS countries for the work we do in the energy industry. That means mainly production and exports. We have built our business as a leading seller of oil machinery and equipment. We are growing and expanding all the time, most recently into trademarked chemical manufacturing.

We have been active in Dubai for more than 10 years. We got started there in computer electronics. This became a model for us to move into other sectors. I can say that our companies were among the first from Azerbaijan to come and settle in Dubai. We are centralizing and coordinating more of our businesses from Dubai for the UAE and Gulf Region.

Our focus on trading is developing rapidly, with more and more activity being generated from the sale of petrochemical products, crude oil and oil equipment. Construction and real estate are also areas where we continue to develop and look for new opportunities.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Caring for the communities where we do business

Travelling many days each month for the work that I do between Baku, Azerbaijan and Dubai, I am always interested in seeing and hearing how other business leaders make a public contribution, give back and be part of the communities we work in. It is the highest priority for me.

For example, our Surkhani Operating Company support families in need and war veterans. Other areas of interest for me are supporting children with illness and special needs

In addition, the very way we do business is conducted with the rebuilding and revitalizing of communities as a priority. Much of our work has been dedicated to the transformation of old factories into modern facilities using the latest technologies.

Our aim is simple: we want to protect and preserve old jobs, and we want to create new, additional employment.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.