What are the most important transactions and litigations you have been involved in the last two years?

SOCAR Trading was awarded an amount exceeding $60m in an LMAA arbitration proceeding. This final award made in January 2021 puts an end to a long dispute between SOCAR Trading and one of its former shipping service providers. It is part of a set of arbitration proceedings between SOCAR Group and the adverse party, that awarded SOCAR Group an aggregate compensation exceeding $240m and dismissed all counterclaims of the adverse party. SOCAR Trading and SOCAR Group are currently in the process of enforcing these three awards in various jurisdictions including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Malta, and other jurisdictions.

I cannot mention one single transaction that I would consider as the most important. This said, as we are seeing the world transitioning to cleaner energies, SOCAR Trading has been following this trend. SOCAR Trading smoothly transitioned from a pure crude and products trader to an actor of transitioning energies. After building up its LNG trading desk, SOCAR Trading has spent the last two years building up its natural gas and carbon emissions trading capabilities. These new capabilities allow SOCAR Trading to see its future with the confidence that its business can go along with energy transition.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Relationships are not something you can simply build once and remain forever. Covid-19 has taught us many lessons. One of them is that relationships require nourishment. Remote working has shown the success of technology and had tremendous impacts. However, one should not underestimate the human aspects of relationships. Consistent contact with business partners is key to healthy relationships. As life returns to some form of normalcy, we must remember that it is an absolute priority that we stay connected with our business partners to ensure that their needs are covered.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

The commodity trading industry relies heavily on banking relationships and payments in dollars (USD). Compliance matters and constant monitoring sanctions in the United States are fundamental to keeping the company’s ability to maintain these relationships and ability to operate USD payments in an international environment.