BP Azerbaijan President David Woodward has been made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year’s Honour list, announced on January 1st.
The honour, which was established by the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in 1818, is given for ‘extraordinary and important service’ by UK citizens working overseas. It recognises Mr Woodward’s achievements during his seven years leading BP’s activities in Azerbaijan.
‘This is a tremendous honour and I am very proud to be recognised in this way,’ said Mr Woodward. ‘It has been a great privilege to work alongside my colleagues in BP, our oil company partners and our contractors, together with the government to realise Azerbaijan’s oil and gas potential.
‘I remain indebted to all those working as part of this wider team for their contribution to the success of our projects. This award is as much a tribute to their efforts as mine.’
‘I am very pleased that we have also been able to support the Government of Azerbaijan in its own endeavours – particularly revenue management and in its ground-breaking adoption of the UK Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
‘Over the past 15 years we have witnessed the development of strong links between the UK and Azerbaijan, and I remain committed to furthering good relationships between our two countries,’ he added.
At present 27 BP Azerbaijan employees are working on assignments with BP in the UK. BP also supports the John Smith Fellowship programme which was awarded to two young Azerbaijanis for the first time in 2005, and funds English language courses for local staff, journalists and NGOs, run by the British Council. This year, BP helped set up the UK-Azerbaijan Alumni Network for Azerbaijan students who had studied in the UK.
Apart from BP’s leading role in the oil and gas developments, some 1500 UK companies are playing a major part in supplying goods and services to the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Shah Deniz BTC and South Caucasus pipeline projects in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
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Note for editors:
David Woodward was appointed President of BP Azerbaijan in January 1999. Through BP’s role as Operator, he has overall responsibility for development and operation of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) offshore oilfield, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project, the Shah Deniz offshore gas development and pipeline project, and for BP’s exploration activities in the Southern Caspian and the Eastern Black Sea.
David joined BP in 1970, and has worked in a variety of engineering, operation and general management posts in London, Aberdeen, Abu Dhabi, Norway, Alaska and Russia.
David has an MSc in Physics from the University of Sussex and attended the Programme for Management Development at Harvard. He is a Chartered Engineer, and a member of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
David Woodward is married, and has two children.
Decorations:
Order of Honour, Georgia, 2003
Order of Glory, Azerbaijan, 2004
Tamam Bayatly at BP’s Press Office in Baku, telephone: 994 (0) 12 599 4557