Azerbaijan, Baku, July 6 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
SOCAR and British BP intend to sign a PSA for exploration and development of prospective structures "Shafag" and "Asiman" in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in the autumn of this year, SOCAR said.
The company signed an agreement on the basic commercial principles in this project.
SOCAR said that the contract will be signed for 30 years. Exploration period will be four years, with possibility of extension for three years. Two wells are planned to be drilled within the first phase. Two more wells will be drilled if necessary within the second one.
SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said during signing of the agreement that stocks of the structure is estimated at 300 -500 billion cubic meters of gas.
"Shafag" and "Asiman" structures are located 125 kilometers to the south-east of Baku. SOCAR and BP signed a memorandum on "Mutual understanding" on the joint exploration and development of "Shafag" and "Asiman" in London in July 2009. The date of signing of the contract expires in July this year.
Exploration work has not been conducted on the block before. It is located in the depth of 650-800 m. with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.
BP is the main foreign oil investor in Azerbaijan. It heads the projects to develop the block of oil and gas fields "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" and gas condensate field Shah Deniz. BP is also an operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa pipelines.