Asif Zeynalov

Asif Zeynalov started as GL CEO in April 2019. With over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in various technical and leadership roles, he is responsible for the overall success of GL and for creating, planning, implementing, and integrating the strategic direction of the Company.

Asif started his career at SOCAR Oil Refinery as a Mechanic in 1984, followed by his service in the army as a Border Guard from 1985 to 1987. After graduating from university, Asif continued his professional career as a Fire Prevention Officer at SOCAR Oil Refinery from 1992 to 1995. Asif started his career with bp in 1995 and held a number of roles through 2019 including: 

• General Manager, Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula PSA (SWAP), Baku, Azerbaijan - responsible for the creation and management of a new low-cost Operating Organization for SWAP, leveraging international experiences and best practices to effectively deliver all phases from exploration through to production;
• Regional Director of Logistics & Infrastructure Baku, Azerbaijan - responsible for defining and deploying the regional logistics strategy and capabilities in support of all Upstream logistics and infrastructure operations to support Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey Region. Accepted full responsibility for a $700 million budget, a team of 100 bp employees, and over 6000 contractors;
• Head of Operations in Rumaila oilfield in Basra, Iraq – responsible for all upstream operations in the Rumaila oilfield to support bp’s new award Technical Services Agreement.  Accepted full P&L and management leadership for the second-largest oil and gas production field in the world generating in excess of 10.5 billion barrels of oil. Recruited 100 expats and mobilized them in the country to direct 3,100 employees and more than 2,000 contractors. Managed a $420 million operating budget. Served as Incident Commander;
• Operations Manager in East Texas, USA, - responsible for oil and gas operation in East Texas comprised of 1,100 production wells, 40+ field compression stations, wellhead compression units, and 1,200 miles of pipelines and gas gathering systems across five counties;
• Sangachal Oil & Gas Processing Terminal Manager,  Azerbaijan – responsible for one of the largest industrial complexes in the world comprised of a team of over 750, a $57 million operating budget, seven oil processing trains, a high-pressure gas facility with throughput of 500 million standard cubic feet. Led the integration and commissioning of a new oil and gas processing Terminal that boosted production from 145,000 MMBOD to 850,000 MMBOD.

In 2004 Asif was awarded the "Tərəqqi" Medal (“Progress Medal”) by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for his special contributions to the oil and gas sector of the country

Asif:

• Holds B.Sc. Degree in Transportation Engineering from the Technical University of Azerbaijan;
• Holds B.Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the State Oil Academy of Azerbaijan;
• Graduated from the Operations Academy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management, USA;
• Graduated from Leadership Development Program in UK in 2002;
• Is qualified in oil&gas management of major emergencies, managed a number of big-scale emergencies off-shore and on-shore.