Baku, Azerbaijan, April 23
By Ali Mustafayev - Trend:
British BP is exploring new promising fields in Azerbaijan, Vice President for Communications, External Affairs, Strategy & Region at BP Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli said.
He was speaking at the 3rd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals in Baku April 23.
"There are several new priority oil and gas fields on the Absheron Peninsula. BP seeks to begin their development in the near future. Presently, geological exploration is underway on these fields, "Aslanbayli said.
Among the projects, Aslanbayli mentioned the Shafag-Asiman block of fields, as well as the promising offshore block D230, an agreement on which BP plans to sign with Azerbaijan's SOCAR in the coming days.
BP is the operator of the Shah Deniz and ACG projects.
SOCAR and BP signed a contract on the Shafag-Asiman block of fields for a period of 30 years in October 2010. The exploration period is four years with possibility of extension for three more years. Two wells are to be drilled within the first phase. Two more wells will be drilled within the second phase, if necessary.
In the operational period the sides will implement joint operatorship within the project. Shared participation in the contract between BP and SOCAR is 50 to 50 percent.
The forecasted reserves of the Shafag-Asiman block stand at 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate.
The block is located 125 kilometers to the south-east of Baku. Exploration work has not been conducted on the block yet. It is located at a depth of 650-800 meters with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.
In May 2016, BP and SOCAR signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore potential prospects in the block D230 in the North Absheron Basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
The block covers areas in a water depth of up to 300 meters with the reservoir depth of 3,000-5,000 meters.