science

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan rather than just read about it. In short: The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Neft Fondu), also known by its abbreviation SOFAZ, is a sovereign wealth fund of Azerbaijan founded in December 1999. Nearly all the fund's revenues come from Azerbaijan's oil and gas exports.

Key takeaways

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Neft Fondu), also known by its abbreviation SOFAZ, is a sovereign wealth fund of Azerbaijan founded in December 1999. Nearly all the fund's revenues come from Azerbaijan's oil and gas exports. SOFAZ invests internationally and holds assets in more than 60 countries, including listed securities as well as infrastructure and renewable energy projects.

History and organization The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) was established by Heydar Aliyev's Decree No. 240 dated December 29, 1999. Statute of the State Oil Fund was approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 434 dated December 29, 2000. Funds from SOFAZ are frequently transferred to make up for state deficits. Azerbaijani banks purchased nearly $5 billion foreign currency from SOFAZ in 2016. In 2018, SOFAZ sold more than $5.8 billion foreign currency to Azerbaijani banks. In 2020, the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil fields recorded their lowest profits since 2003 at $3.52 billion, with SOFAZ receiving about $5 billion from oil sales that year. In 2022, revenue from oil and gas sales of the ACG and Shah Deniz gas field increased by 65.4% to $11.3 billion compared to 2021. In 2024, the revenue generated by SOFAZ from the sale of oil from the ACG field was US$ 5,725 billion. SOFAZ owns 25% of the shares amongst BP, ExxonMobil, Amoco, Unocal, Statoil, McDermott and others. As of 30 June 2026, SOFAZ reported assets under management of $72.6 billion, reflecting an increase of 16.9% since the beginning of the year, driven by investment returns, currency movements, and asset allocation. SOFAZ Executive Director Israfil Mammadov signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hassana Investment Company in October 2024 to discuss investment in Saudi Arabia. In 2024, SOFAZ sold $7.128 billion foreign currency for 12.1 billion manats.

Executive Director The operational management of the Fund's activities is carried out by the Executive Director, who is appointed and dismissed by the President. As of 2018, the executive director reports to the President. There have been three executive directors since 2001:

Samir Sharifov (January 3, 2001 – April 18, 2006) Shahmar Movsumov (May 15, 2006 – November 29, 2019) Israfil Mammadov (November 29, 2019 – present)

Supervisory Board The President of Azerbaijan appoints the members of a Supervisory Board, who are de facto powerless. The board comprises 7 key officials including the Prime Minister, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Assistants to the President of Azerbaijan – Head of Economic Affairs and Innovative Development Policy, and Head of Economic Policy and Industrial Affairs departments of the Presidential Administration, Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, and the Chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

Subsidiaries SOFAZ owns 12 subsidiaries. Five are located on the channel island of Jersey, four in Luxembourg and one each in Russia, France and Japan.

Others In June 2024, SOFAZ announced a plan to invest US$100 million in Dubai-based GEMS Education. Since 2013, SOFAZ owns a 2.95% stake in state-owned Russian VTB Bank until now this investment has paid USD 57.3 million in dividends to SOFAZ. In 2025 SOFAZ announced an investment in Italian rail operator Italo – Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori S.p.A via a fund vehicle led by U.S.-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) which is part of BlackRock. In May 2025 SOFAZ invested a €20 million stake in the private equity fund Azzurra Capital Fund I, managed by the company Azzurra Capital, based in Dubai. In July 2025, SOFAZ acquired a 49% stake in 14 solar power plants in Italy operated by Enfinity Global, with a combined capacity of 402 MW, operating under long-term power purchase agreements. In October 2025, SOFAZ invested £50 million in London Gatwick Airport alongside Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock, as part of a major infrastructure investment in Europe. SOFAZ works with major global asset managers, including BlackRock, Brookfield, JP Morgan, Franklin Templeton, Blackstone, Neuberger Berman and KKR, to access large-scale international investments.

Awards United Nations Public Service Awards (2007) EITI Award (2009)

References

Source Aslanli, Kenan (2015). "Fiscal sustainability and the State Oil Fund in Azerbaijan". Journal of Eurasian Studies. 6 (2): 114–121. doi:10.1016/j.euras.2015.03.004. ISSN 1879-3665.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan

In research: State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 establishments in Azerbaijan, Economy of Azerbaijan, Government agencies established in 1999, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan in simple terms?

Why does State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan.