Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

The forecast on production for Azerbaijan this year has not changed, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, BP’s Vice President for Communications, External Affairs and Strategy, said on October 15.

Speaking about Block D230, the agreement on which was ratified by the Azerbaijani parliament last week, he noted that seismic works will be carried out in this block.

Aslanbeyli went on to say that the process will take some time, adding that after ratification, the agreement must be signed by the president and then published in the newspaper.

The Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) on joint exploration and development of Block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea was signed in April in London, in the presence of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, by SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and BP group chief executive Bob Dudley.

Under the PSA, which exists for already 25 years, BP will be the operator during the exploration phase holding a 50 percent interest while SOCAR will hold the remaining 50 percent.

Block D230 lies some 135 kilometres north-east of Baku in the Caspian Sea. It covers an area of some 3,200 square kilometres and has not previously been explored. It has water depths of 400-600 metres and anticipated reservoir depths of about 3,500 metres.

SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.

SOCAR includes such production associations as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies, and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations.

SOCAR established joint companies (including Georgia and Turkey), alliances, operating in various sectors of oil and gas spheres. It has representative offices in Georgia, the U.S., Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Belgium and Canada.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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