Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19
By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR received 1/3 of the funds envisaged in the state budget to increase the company’s authorized capital, in connection with the work at the Umid-Babek and Karabakh fields, SOCAR Vice President for Economic Issues Suleyman Gasimov told reporters in Baku Sept. 19.
SOCAR will receive 663 million manats from the state budget for 2018 to increase its authorized capital in connection with drilling operations.
“One third of the funds, in the amount of 221 million manats, has already been allocated,” Gasimov said.
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. The company expects to receive the first reserves from the field in 2021.
SOCAR announced the discovery of the Umid field in 2010.
A risk service contract (a contract with a minimum guarantee of compensation) for exploration and development of an offshore block including the Umid gas field and the promising Babek structure in the Caspian Sea was signed between SOCAR and SOCAR Umid Oil and Gas Ltd. on Jan. 12, 2017.
According to SOCAR’s data and the results of drilling of the first exploration well, the field has over 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 40 million tons of condensate.
The Umid field is located 75 kilometers from Baku.
The reserves of the Babek structure may stand at 400 billion cubic meters of gas and 80 million tons of condensate, according to preliminary data.
(1.7 manats = 1 USD on Sept. 19)
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