AZERBAIJAN TRIES NEW NEGOTIATING STRATEGY ON OIL CONTRACTS.

In the runup to President Haidar Aliev’s visit to Washington, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is negotiating three separate contracts with the U.S. companies Exxon, Chevron, and Mobil to develop offshore oil deposits. In a new negotiating strategy, SOCAR seeks to reserve for itself a 50 percent stake in each project. SOCAR has taken a substantially lesser stake in the five contracts signed thus far with international consortiums. (International Petroleum Agency, June 12)

Yeltsin Congratulates Russians on National Holiday.