Azerbaijan: Equinor, Socar pen new offshore deals

Norway’s Equinor and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR have signed a Risk Service Agreement (RSA) related to the appraisal and development of the Karabagh oilfield and a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for the Ashrafi, Dan Ulduzu, Aypara area. Statoil Azerbaijan signed the agreements on behalf of Equinor.

The Karabagh oilfield is located 120 kilometers east of Baku, close to the SOCAR operated Shallow Water Gunashli (SWG) field and the BP-operated Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) field, in which Statoil Azerbaijan has a 7.27% interest.

The Ashrafi, Dan Ulduzu, Aypara exploration area is located around 100-110 kilometers north-east of Baku.

Eldar Sætre, CEO of Equinor said: “The agreements signed today represent a natural next step in the region. This will strengthen our position in a prolific basin and develop growth options. The licenses lie in close proximity to the ACG field in a basin we know well. We now look forward to work on these new exploration projects in partnership with SOCAR.”

SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev: “Today we enter a new phase of cooperation between SOCAR and Equinor. 25 years of partnership between our companies have laid a solid foundation for efficient cooperation on the new joint projects. These agreements will take on significance, contributing to the stability of oil production and satisfying the growing demand for natural gas in Azerbaijan, while providing raw materials for the processing industry.”

To operate the licenses Statoil Azerbaijan and SOCAR will form a 50-50 joint operating company. A final investment decision on field development will be taken following appraisal and engineering work. The agreements are subject to customary conditions and approval by the authorities.