The Azerbaijani arm of BP has awarded 58 scholarships to the most talented students at the State Oil Academy of Azerbaijan (SOAA).

In a ceremony yesterday (May 26th) the company awarded 30 first-year students funding for achieving the highest grades in entrance exams, while a further 28 students received scholarships for their exceptional performance in technical exams drawn up by BP.

Trend reports that the scholarships were presented by the president of BP Azerbaijan Rashid Javanshir.

In addition to providing computers and the opportunity to take part in specialist language training programmes, BP will also this year invest in technical manuals and textbooks to expand SOAA's library.

BP has identified offshore Caspian fields as "one of the world’s leading hydrocarbon provinces", while Azerbaijan plays a pivotal role in developing the potential of the field by bringing oil and gas to market.

"[The success of projects in the region] is measured to a large extent by the degree to which their benefits are shared with the people of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and the region as a whole," the company claims.

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