bp and SOCAR have agreed to jointly explore and potentially develop two blocks in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
One covers the Karabagh oil field, 120 km east of Baku and 20-25 km from the producing Gunashli field in a water depth of 150-200 m.
SOCAR currently has a 100% interest in the risk service agreement for development of the field, signed in 2018 and ratified by Azerbaijan’s Parliament (Milli Majlis).
The second block is over the Ashrafi–Dan Ulduzu–Aypara (ADUA) area, 90-110 km northeast of Baku in water depths from 80-180 m. It includes various discoveries and prospective structures.
Again, an agreement is already in place for the exploration, development and production sharing, with SOCAR at present the sole participant.
In addition, the two companies have entered a memorandum of understanding to explore potential cooperation opportunities in E&P for international oil and gas upstream projects.
Finally, SOCAR, bp (as operator) and its partners have signed an addendum to their production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Azeri and Chirag fields and the deepwater portion of the Gunashli field (ACG) in the Caspian Sea.
This will allow exploration, appraisal, development of and production from non-associated natural gas reservoirs in the ACG field; bp estimates up to 4 Tcf potentially in place.
The addendum runs through the end of the existing ACG PSA in 2049. Any gas developments that follow could potentially lead to billions of dollars in investments.
Other co-venturers in the non-associated natural gas project are MOL, INPEX, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO, ITOCHU, and ONGC Videsh (2.31%).
bp remains the operator of the ACG PSA.
