Azerbaijan-Israel

Oil and Trade
Trade between the two countries soared in 2011, with around $4 billion in overall trade. According to 'oil publication Oil Price, in the Autumn of 2012, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR bought a 5 percent stake in Med Ashdod, Israel’s main oil field, working besides Israel’s Shemen Oil & Gas Resources (SMOG) consortium. In April 2012 it was announced that joint drilling would begin; albeit holding only a small proportion of Med Ashdod, in terms of Baku ‘expanding its international energy production efforts and wider geopolitics, it’s a much more serious endeavour’, according to the reports by Oil Price.

Israel was, as of May 2012, importing one third of its oil from Azerbaijan.

Response to Nuclear Issue and Sanctions in Iran
Officially, Azerbaijan announced it would remain neutral in the Iran nuclear issue and sanctions. However, Azerbaijan and Israel have always maintained close diplomatic ties, strengthened by high volumes of energy trade. Azerbaijan, in February 2012, signed an arms deal worth $1.6 million with Israel. However despite speculation, both countries maintain that Israel has not been given access to Azeri military bases.

According to the New York Times, for Israel, Azerbaijan has “emerged as an extraordinary ally- a friendly Muslim nation that is willing to cooperate on military and strategic issues”. Israel has been able to empathise with Azerbaijan’s predicament; being surrounded by less that friendly countries.

Unsurprisingly, Iran is concerned with these developments, the closer ties between Azerbaijan and Israel representing a threat to Iran’s borders.

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