Azernews.Az

Nazrin Abdul

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SOCAR and Hungary’s MOL Group have signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for exploration and production activities in Azerbaijan’s Shamakhi-Gobustan area.

Azernews reports, citing SOCAR, that the agreement was signed by SOCAR President Rovshan Najaf and MOL Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Zsolt Hernádi.

Under the agreement, MOL Group will act as the project operator and hold a 65 percent participating interest in the joint exploration project, while SOCAR will retain a 35 percent stake.

As part of the project, seismic surveys are scheduled to commence in early 2026, followed by drilling operations at a later stage.

It was noted that this fully negotiated agreement represents an important milestone in the strategic partnership between SOCAR and MOL Group, building on their successful previous cooperation. The deal follows the signing of a Heads of Terms Agreement between the two companies during Baku Energy Week on June 3, 2025.

MOL Group entered the Azerbaijani market in 2020 by acquiring a 9.57 percent stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oilfield and an effective 8.9 percent interest in the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline transporting crude oil to the port of Ceyhan.