Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has appointed a new chief executive officer to “Italiana Petroli,” the company it acquired from Italy’s “API Holding.” “Policy Maker” reports that the person in question is Georgia’s former Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili.
Levan Davitashvili served as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia from 2021 to 2025. After leaving the ministerial post, he served as an adviser to the President of SOCAR starting from November 2025.
“Radio Marneuli,” operating in Georgia, reports that Davitashvili’s name has been mentioned in a corruption scandal. The former minister was questioned in February 2026 as part of an investigation conducted by the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service.
However, while Davitashvili told journalists after the questioning that issues related to gas supply had been discussed, the State Security Service announced that the former minister had been questioned in connection with a specific criminal case. Levan Davitashvili left the country the day after the questioning and has not returned to Georgia since.
SOCAR acquired 99.82 percent of the shares of “Italiana Petroli” (IP). The purchase process was completed on May 8. SOCAR has not disclosed the value of the acquired shares. However, “Reuters” had reported that the value of “Italiana Petroli” was around 2.9 billion dollars.