Former Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili has been appointed CEO at the Italian petroleum company Italiana Petroli (IP). The management change was announced by the Azerbaijani state-run energy giant SOCAR, which recently completed the acquisition of IP.
In its Wednesday press release, SOCAR noted that ‘Davitashvili will lead the operations of IP in Italy, with the focus of ensuring operational continuity, preserving and further strengthening its position in the national energy market, and overseeing the company’s integration within the broader SOCAR Group’.
‘The appointment reflects SOCAR’s commitment to Italy through dedicated leadership that combines the Group's international industrial expertise and strategic vision with a strong understanding of the local market and institutional environment’, SOCAR added.
The company further noted that Davitashvili ‘brings over 25 years of experience across senior public and private sector leadership positions’. Alongside with his ministership, SOCAR emphasised that Davitashvili ‘guided the country’s involvement in the Green Energy Corridor initiative, connecting the South Caucasus to European Union member states’.
‘Since November 2025, he has served as Advisor to the President of SOCAR’, the press release read.
Azerbaijan’s SOCAR signed an agreement to acquire IP, one of Italy’s major fuel station networks, in September 2025. The process was completed in May, after SOCAR received the necessary regulatory approvals.
Davitashvili served as Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development from February 2022 to June 2025. In parallel, he served as Deputy Prime Minister from July 2021. He stepped down from both positions simultaneously.
Davitashvili’s resignation was preceded by the detention of his former deputy, Romeo Mikautadze, three days earlier. Mikautadze, who had served as Deputy Minister since 2021 and as First Deputy from 2022 until February 2024, was prosecuted under corruption charges and sentenced to 10 years prison in March 2026.
While announcing Davitashvili’s departure on 24 June 2025, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the former would move to the position of Chief Advisor on economic affairs, as well as Secretary of the Economic Council under the government.
However, Davitashvili spent only a short time there, with reports emerging in September that he had become chair of the supervisory board of Black Sea Petroleum, the company building an oil refinery in Kulevi. Kobakhidze confirmed to the press in October that the former minister had ‘moved to the private sector’.
Helena Bedwell
In February 2026, Davitashvili was summoned for questioning by the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service (SSG) — the same office that in recent months has targeted a number of former senior officials on corruption charges, including Mikautadze. The SSG said he was summoned in connection with an ongoing investigation related to a contract signed with a major oil company.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
Following the questioning, Davitashvili said that he and the agency had ‘discussed’ issues related to supplying Europe with gas from Azerbaijan via Georgia. The SSG strongly rejected this characterisation, stating that Davitashvili had been summoned for questioning in a specific criminal case and ‘not for a meeting to discuss issues’.
‘During the questioning, the questions concerned risks related to Georgia’s gas supply and the deterioration of conditions for Georgia under the signed contract, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation, and not the EU’s gas supply’, the agency added.
The day after the questioning, reports emerged that Davitashvili had left Georgia. He told media that he ‘sometimes travels for work’ and that this was such a visit, although no further public information has been released about his return to the country since then.
Before becoming Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister, from 2017 to 2022, he held the post of Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. Earlier, from 2014 to 2016, he served as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, and from 2016 to 2017 as acting minister.
