ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s foreign oil company executives travelled to Azerbaijan to look for business opportunities. They were welcomed by Soviet and Azeri oil officials. The Soviet objective was to sustain the high Soviet oil production into the future, but they needed Western technology and Western financing to succeed. The Azeri hope was to rebuild Azerbaijan as a major oil nation. They knew that there were large discoveries to be made, but lacked the money and technology for such projects.
