BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 29
By Anastasia Savchenko – Trend:
Revenues of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) from payments on contract areas by foreign investors in connection with the development of hydrocarbon reserves will amount to $2.7 million by the end of 2020, Trend reports with reference to a report of the Azerbaijan Chamber of Accounts on the budget of SOFAZ.
This indicator is $500,000 (or 13.2 percent) more than the forecast for 2019, said the report.
This year, payments under this income article should be made in accordance with the agreement between Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and BP Exploration Company Limited (Azerbaijan) on the exploration, development and distribution of the production share of the Shafag-Asiman offshore block of fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, according to the report.
Payment for each square kilometer of the contract area is $2,000, the report said.
The contract area is about 1,059 square kilometers, and the payment for the contract area is $2.1 million.
Payment regarding the contract area in the amount of $642,000 is envisaged according to the agreement on exploration, development and distribution of the production share in the shallow water area around the Absheron Peninsula in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
The territory of the contract area is 321 square kilometers, and payment regarding the contract area for the exploration period is $642,000.
SOCAR and BP signed a contract on the Shafag-Asiman block for a period of 30 years in October 2010. The forecast reserves of the Shafag-Asiman block stand at 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate.
The block lies some 125 kilometers (78 miles) to the South-East of Baku. It covers an area of some 1,100 square kilometers and has never been explored before. It is located in a deepwater section of about 650-800 meters with reservoir depth of about 7,000 meters.