Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
SOCAR Absheron, a joint venture of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and French Total hasn’t been liquidated, Public Relations Head at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR Ibrahim Ahmadov told Trend.
“This enterprise per se has not been liquidated. Here we can talk about changing the company’s place of registration,” he said.
Ahmadov noted that the purpose of this procedure is to optimize and increase the effectiveness of interactions with foreign partners, since SOCAR Absheron, in particular, represents the interests of the company under the production sharing agreement on the Absheron field.
He said that the first well is being drilled at Absheron field since last year with the help of SOCAR’s Heydar Aliyev semi-submersible drilling rig. "We’ve gone as deep as 7200 meters already, planning to finish that drilling soon. The field is operated by JOCAP, a 50/50 joint venture of SOCAR and Total."
The newspaper of the Ministry of Taxes said on Feb.12 that SOCAR Absheron has announced about its liquidation.
Lenders can make their claims within two months, said the newspaper.
SOCAR Absheron was established in April last year to develop the Absheron field.
SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the first phase of development of the Absheron field.
The first phase of the field’s development envisaged drilling one well at a sea depth of 450 meters. The production will stand at 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 700,000 tons of condensate per year and these volumes will be used in Azerbaijan’s domestic market. It is planned to produce up to 4 billion cubic meters of gas at the second stage.
Absheron’s reserves are estimated at 326 billion cubic meters of gas and 108 million tons of condensate, according to estimations of the Total specialists.
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