Financial Times FT.com

State Oil Company: Burning ambition to compete on global stage

By Isabel Gorst

Published: January 24 2008 16:14 | Last updated: January 24 2008 16:14

Socar, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, is building a new headquarters in Baku to resemble a burning flame.

Lit from within in ascending layers of orange, yellow and blue, the skyscraper has been designed to recall Azerbaijan’s ancient history as a place of pilgrimage for Zoroastrian fire worshippers, drawn by the natural fires lit by gas seepages near the Caspian coast.

You have viewed your allowance of free articles. If you wish to view more, click the button below.

Read this

"Front page" sub navigation

"World" sub navigation

"Asia-Pacific" sub navigation

"Europe" sub navigation

"Latin America & Caribbean" sub navigation

"Middle East & North Africa" sub navigation

"UK" sub navigation

"US & Canada" sub navigation

"Companies" sub navigation

"Energy" sub navigation

"Financials" sub navigation

"Health" sub navigation

"Industrials" sub navigation

"Retail & Consumer" sub navigation

"Technology" sub navigation

"Transport" sub navigation

"By region" sub navigation

"Columnists" sub navigation

"Markets" sub navigation

"FTfm" sub navigation

"Markets Data" sub navigation

"FT Trading Room" sub navigation

"Equities" sub navigation

"Lex" sub navigation

"Comment" sub navigation

"Management" sub navigation

"Columnists" sub navigation

"Personal Finance" sub navigation

"Investments" sub navigation

"Tools & Calculators" sub navigation

"Compare & Apply" sub navigation

"Life & Arts" sub navigation

"Arts" sub navigation

"Pursuits" sub navigation

"Travel" sub navigation

"Interactive" sub navigation

"In depth" sub navigation

"Jobs & classified" sub navigation

"Jobs" sub navigation

"Services & tools" sub navigation

"News by email" sub navigation

FT Alphaville

Mergermarket

Debtwire

Market-moving economics

FT.com RSS Feeds

FT Lexicon