Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend U.Ismayilova / The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), BP oil company and the Government of Azerbaijan should approve the re-sale by Shell company of its participating share in the project in the exploration and development of Inam oil field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian, Natik Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Minister for Industry and Energy, said on 28 August.
The Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) and the British-Dutch company RD Shell have reached an agreement to purchase 20% of Shell's 25% share in the Production Sharing Agreement on Development and Exploitation in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian. Participants in the Inam project operated by BP with a 25% stake are SOCAR with 50% and Shell with 25%. Therefore, once KNOC joins the project, the project's participants will be as follows: BP - 25%, SOCAR - 50%, KNOC - 20% and Shell - 5%.
"Generally, approval for the re-sale does not portray any problems. There are rules to be followed for the re-sale and none have been violated [in Inam project], the minister said.
Korea intends to purchase 20% from SOCAR's 50% stock in this project. SOCAR decided not to sell its stake in the project at the exploration stage.
SOCAR's refusal can be accounted for by the absence of risks in this stage, because the other two participants in the project, BP and Shell, have undertaken the financing of their stakes in the project at this stage.
The Korean oil company officially said Korean specialists have estimated the technical data and suggested oil reserves in Inam to be quite high, although there is a possible high-risk factor. Therefore, KNOC requested that SOCAR formulate a reserve re-estimation of the field.
There are plans for a second exploration well on Inam, to be carried out most likely in August, at a depth of 6,000m. The first well on the field was liquidated due to problems caused by abnormally high pressure.
