AZERBAIJAN DIARIES – BAKU

3rd June
The first glimpse of one of the sides of life in Baku came to me already at the gate in London Heathrow, although I dind’t quite realise it at that moment. While boarding the plane to Baku I noticed that the great majority of fellow passengers had quite strong Scottish accents and the typical look of the “oil boy”, namely tattoos on the forearms, gold rings, a beer belly and a smart little trolley. They were all returning from their weeks off to start a new shift on the numerous oil platforms owend by BP and scattered around the Caspian Sea and to keep up to their reputation they had to drink vodka and coke and bloody mary non stop for the all five hours of flight. The landing in Baku took place at around 3 in the night local time and that’s where I first experienced Azeri bureaucracy: getting the visa. Basically you have to join the normal cue for passport control while filling your form, then the policeman stamp your passport and send you to the visa cue where you pay a substantial fee only to return again in the same cue and get your passport stamped once more! After more then an hour and a half wasted in this process I finally met my driver that had patiently waited outside. After shaking my hand he offered me a cigarette, fire and then handed me the pack with the phone and the folder: I guess this is the local baptism for secret agents. Once arrived at the hotel and joked with the guy at the reception about my supposedly resemblance to Alex Del Piero I dropped my bags in a stunningly posh room with a beautiful balcony overlooking the old town. I felt a bit spoiled but since BP pays for it I am more than happy.

4th June
After a nice sleep in one of the most comfortable beds ever experienced I met up with James, my contact here for the survey and went for brunch. Sitting at a table next to us were a group of well dressed british ladies drinking cappuccino and sharing opinions about the results of their latest high street shopping frenzy. These ladies are also known as “desperate oil-wives”, a pretty self explanatory nickname with a hint to trash American television.
In the afternoon we drove to the Marine Lab, located south of Baku to start discussing the details of the survey and to meet the rest of the crew. From the road you could see the incredible and quite off-putting result of the extreme oil exploitation in this desert and rocky coastline. The wild west is over, welcome the wild east.

5th and 6th June
Two entire days spent doing a training course on BP procedures for shift leaders that we will have to comply with when we enter the 500m limit zone around the offshore platforms. Although it was interesting and useful I ended up almost becoming obsessed with all the HSE paranoia that rules the oil industry. Unfortunately I will be responsible for the safety of the personnel under my supervision, probably with legal implications if something happens, so it’s good to know the basic rule: always cover your ass. However my Italian genes will always help me with common sense.
After the end of the course each day I still had a little bit of time to walk around the city centre and experience the crazy local contrasting daily life. Wild traffic and even wilder parking, shouting taxi drivers, Lada Niva, Mercedes, black SUVs, the rich dressed in obscene suits, the british expats in irish pubs, the poor selling fruit in dirty alleys, the emancipated local business women, the teenagers showing off their mobile phones. Walking in the old city was another story. Mosques, a maze of tiny alleys with old men drinking tea at their doorsteps, cats going out for a meal at the local rubbish bin, carpets sellers.
The contrast is noticeable but that is also what is so interesting about this place.