Press Review - July 14, 2018

The role of the BTC pipeline in the country's economy, the risks of the oil factor, and the problems of the village of the 21st century are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in the country's economy, calling it the oil artery of the region. Since its launch 12 years have passed, and the author tells about the problems that were artificially created during the construction period. In particular, Georgian NGOs claimed that the pipeline would cause ecological harm to the mineral water sources of Borjomi. The author notes that without the BTC pipeline, the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project would be impossible.

The Novoye Vremya newspaper in the article titled Oil Risks Always Exist writes that, despite the fact that the OPEC + agreement is still in force, and the prices for "black gold" are now at a very stable level, the signs of instability in the OPEC itself and in the world oil market are felt now and again.

At the last OPEC summit on June 22, the parties agreed to increase the daily oil production by 1 million barrels. The consequences of this decision are already felt in the oil market. So, for the last two days on commodity exchanges the price of "black gold" fluctuates within 70-74 dollars, which is about 4 dollars lower than previous prices. According to statements of officials from the government's economic block, it can be concluded that the oil price is still prevailing in the approach to the development of the economy. The statements of the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Elmar Rustamov on the stability of the manat also point to this. So, the development of non-oil sectors of the Azerbaijani economy can serve as a guarantee against oil risks. To be fair, we note that now not the oil GDP is growing, as is the increase in the export of non-oil products abroad.

The Bizim Yol newspaper writes about the problems of the residents of the village of Gazyan of the Ujar region, connected with the lack of water and bad roads. We are talking about the territories of the villages called Zarbachi and Balagani, where 95 families live - more than 300 people. The road of only 3 km was last repaired in the Soviet time in 1987. Now it is absolutely unsuitable. The situation is bad with water. The residents complained to the Ujar irrigation system administration, but no measures are taken, although there are all possibilities for their provision with water. -0-