AZERBAIJAN - Profile - Natik Aliyev.

Made head of Socar in 1993 by Gaidar Aliyev, Natik Aliyev is a geologist. Not related to the president, his powers are limited. Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh is vice president for exploration and geology and in charge of the divisions for production, economics, finance and processing. The head of Socar's foreign investment division is Valekh Aleskerov. Rafik Abdullayev is Natik Aliyev's assistant and Socar spokesman.

Socar was formed in 1992 and has a monopoly of every aspect of the industry, with more than 75,000 employees, many subsidiaries, four scientific institutes, medical sanatoria and kindergartens.