Employees of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR evacuated on March 30 from offshore facilities in the Caspian Sea due to a storm warning are gradually returning to their workplaces, SOCAR Public Relations Head Ibrahim Ahmadov told reporters.

He said that from 12:00 (GMT +4) on March 31, SOCAR offshore facilities started to gradually switch to the normal mode of operation.

“All necessary measures have been taken for the return of oil workers to the platforms,” Ahmadov said. “Presently, the oil workers continue their work in the normal mode.”

On March 30, SOCAR strengthened security measures due to strong wind, the speed of which sometimes exceeded 30 meters per second in the open sea.

Over 1,000 oil workers were evacuated from offshore facilities. Only the minimum number of duty officers was left at the offshore oil and gas production facilities.