"Dear Vagit Alekperov, I heartily congratulate you on your significant jubilee – the 70th anniversary. Thanks to your professionalism and organizational talent, LUKOIL is today one of the largest oil & gas companies in the world. The long-term fruitful activity of LUKOIL company in our country makes a significant contribution to the expansion of Azerbaijani-Russian mutual economic relations and paves the way for the development and strengthening of friendly ties between Azerbaijan and Russia. I wish you long life, the best of health, prosperity and new successes," the letter said.
Vagit Alekperov is an Azerbaijani and Russian businessman, the president of the leading Russian oil company LUKOIL. In 1990, Vagit Alekperov was appointed deputy minister of the Oil & Gas Industry of the Soviet Union and became the youngest deputy energy minister in Soviet history.
As deputy minister of the oil and gas industry of the Soviet Union, he was engaged in the formation of the first vertically integrated state-owned energy company, Langepas-Uray-Kogalymneft. In April 1993, Langepas-Uray-Kogalymneft became LUKOIL with Alekperov as its president. He has remained president of LUKOIL since that time.
The company has a 10 % share in the Azerbaijan´s Shah Deniz and South Caucasus Pipeline projects, and participates in the sale of petroleum products in the retail market of Azerbaijan through a network of about 70 filling stations operating under the LUKOIL brand name.
Author: Laman Ismayilova
