Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The US Greenfields Petroleum company allocates all of its own revenues from the development of the Bahar-Gum Deniz block of Azerbaijani oil and gas fields for refinancing operations of the Bahar Energy company, a source on the oil and gas market of Azerbaijan told Trend Nov.23.
Greenfields Petroleum owns a 33.33 percent stake in Bahar Energy, the operator of the Bahar-Gum Deniz block.
The source said that currently the US company supports all efforts to transfer a 66.67 percent share of the bankrupt Baghlan Group to another company.
"Now, the Greenfields Petroleum is the sole source of financing Bahar Energy, allocating the revenues from development of the field for these purposes," the source said. "This situation will be observed until the process of transferring the share of Baghlan to a new partner is fully completed."
This process can begin only after obtaining the consent of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), according to the source.
"As soon as this issue is resolved, SOCAR will begin funding a 20 percent stake in the project [to develop the Bahar-Gum Deniz block] through its subsidiary," said the source. "The closure of the deal will also mean that the new partner will pay Greenfields Petroleum $26.3 million, which the company has spent to cover the costs accounting for the share of Baghlan Group as part of the project implementation."
"It plans to allocate this amount to repay the existing loan in order to get a new loan for a larger amount at a lower interest rate."
Earlier, SOCAR signed a PSA contract with Bahar Energy Limited for the exploration, rehabilitation and development of the Bahar and Gum Deniz offshore fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
Under the second part of the contract, which involves the exploration of the Bahar-2 structure, plans include drilling one exploration well in three years and another in the fourth year. According to preliminary calculations, Bahar Energy Limited's investment volume for 25 years will amount to $1 billion.
Bahar has operated since 1969 and is located 40 kilometers southeast of Baku.
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