OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2011. This June the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) kept the pace of payments to the State Budget and the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF).

The SOCAR reports that in June 2011 it paid AZN 99.671 million to the State Budget that is by AZN 10.981 million or 12.4% more against June 2010. In December 2010 it transferred AZN 191.929 million to the State Budget and in December 2009 – AZN 532.562 million, which was a record figure in the SOCAR entire history.

"In June 2011 payments to the SSPF totaled AZN 12.249 million that was by 5.3% (AZN 615.000) more against June 2010," the Company informed. The SSPF was transferred AZN 13.89 million in December 2010 and AZN 11.96 million in December of 2009 (also a record for 2009) by the SOCAR.

"For Jan-June 2011 the Company transferred AZN 547.947 million (+33.97 million or +6.6% versus the 2010 same term) to the State Budget and AZN 65.444 million (+AZN 4.18 million or +6.8%) to the SSPF,” the SOCAR reported.

SOCAR’s transfer was AZN 1.26 billion to the State Budget and AZN 137.98 million to the SSPF in 2010 and AZN 1.468 billion and AZN 115.16 million respectively in 2009.

Thus, this June alone the SOCAR transferred AZN 101.92 million to the government against AZN 205.8 million in December 2010 and AZN 544.5 million in December 2009 (a record amount of payments). Transfers for Jan-June 2011 amounted to AZN 613.391 million against AZN 1.4 billion (USD 1.756 million) in 2010 and AZN 1.58 billion in 2009.

As of 1 July 2011 exchange rate was AZN 0.7867 to the US dollar, and SOCAR’s overall payments to the government were estimated in USD 779.701 million.