The plan is to drill an appraisal well in Karabakh oil and gas field in Azerbaijan, Norway’s Equinor company told Trend, commenting on the planned initial work to be carried out under the agreements signed with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in May this year.
"We are discussing plans and timing with SOCAR and the exact details are dependent on contracting of equipment and services," said the company.
At the same time, Equinor said it is too early to comment on which companies it will be working with on the project.
On July 5, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev approved the agreements signed on May 30, 2018 between Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Norwegian Equinor.
The first agreement is a risk-service agreement on the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, while the second agreement - a production sharing and exploration agreement on the Dan Ulduzu, Ashrafi and Aypara promising structures.
The agreements envisage a 50/50 share distribution.
The first agreement was signed among SOCAR, Statoil Azerbaijan Karabakh BV (Statoil) and SOCAR Karabakh LLC (SOCAR Karabakh), and the second one - among SOCAR, Statoil Azerbaijan Ashrafi Dan Ulduzu Aypara BV ("Statoil") and SOCAR’s affiliated company.
The Karabakh oil and gas field, discovered in 2000, is located 130 kilometers to the east of Baku. The sea depth in the field varies in the range of 250-450 meters. The initial oil reserves of the field are estimated at 100 million tons.
The recoverable reserves of the Karabakh field are estimated at 16 million tons of oil and 28 billion cubic meters of gas. The sea depth in the area of the field is 180 meters.
SOCAR operates Karabakh field’s development. An exploration well on the Karabakh field is planned to be drilled in 2018. The company expects to receive the first reserves from the field in 2021.
The contract for developing Ashrafi – Dan Ulduzu block of structures, signed in 1997 between SOCAR (20 percent), BP (30 percent), Unocal (25.5 percent), Itochu (20 percent) and Delta HESS (4.5 percent), lost validity on March 7, 2000. Hydrocarbon reserves in the amount of 20-40 million tons were discovered at the Ashrafi field.
Initial oil reserves of the Karabakh oil and gas field, discovered in 2000, amount to 100 million tons. SOCAR operates Karabakh field’s development.
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