Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The use of new technologies in Azerbaijan enables the country to increase its oil production volumes.

These remarks were made by Vice President of BP Azerbaijan on Exploration and Appraisal Gregory Riley at the 21st Caspian International Oil & Gas Exhibition in Baku on June 5.

Riley noted Azerbaijan has a very long and glorious record in oil and gas production.

"Azerbaijan's oil and gas industry requires more investment, in particular in the existing fields, as well as in exploration of the old fields," he added.

Speaking about Azerbaijan's Shafaq-Asiman field, Riley said a huge progress has been made there. BP official also said there is an appropriate ground for production in the field.

The contract on the Shafag-Asiman field was signed in 2010 between Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR and BP for a period of 30 years. The reserves of the Shafag-Asiman block are estimated at 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate.

SOCAR, BP ink agreement on Absheron field

First Vice-President of SOCAR Khoshbakht Yusifzade told journalists that SOCAR and BP have signed an agreement to conduct geological exploration in the shallow part of the Absheron archipelago.

He noted, earlier it was difficult to carry out works in these areas, but currently, modern equipment and machinery is used for these purposes.

"We have signed an agreement with BP to carry out works in this area and this will probably allow discovering small oil fields there," SOCAR official said.

Yusifzade went on to add that SOCAR also intends to consider the proposals set forth by the companies for exploring onshore oil deposits in Azerbaijan.

Currently, special attention is paid to discovering oil fields in Azerbaijan, as the probability of discovering new gas fields in the country is high.

"We want to resume oil exploration by using modern technologies and equipment," he stressed.

BP is taking part in various energy projects in Azerbaijan. The company is the operator of the development of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil and gas fields' block, as well as the technical operator of the Shah Deniz offshore gas condensate field development. Moreover, BP is taking part in other offshore exploration projects in Azerbaijan.