Construction of platform for Karabakh field is nearing completion

6 October 2019 10:01 (UTC+04:00)

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By Leman Mammadova

The construction of the platform for the development of the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is coming to an end.

This was stated during the meeting held between the president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Rovnag Abdullayev, and the delegation led by Carrie Lockhart, First Vice-President of Norwegian Equinor ASA on October 4.

During the meeting, it was noted that the final works on the facility and platform to be used on the Karabakh field have been completed and it will be commissioned soon. The sides stressed that the project willl be highly effective and will add value to Azerbaijan's economic development.

The sides also exchanged views on the exploration, development and production sharing agreement on the block of prospective structures Ashrafi - Dan Ulduzu – Aypara in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

SOCAR leadership noted that the cooperation with Equinor in various projects is promising. The parties also discussed the possibility of further cooperation.

The Karabakh oil and gas field, discovered in 2000, is located 130 kilometers to the east of Baku. The sea depth in the field varies in the range of 250-450 meters.

Expectations regarding the oil and gas reserves of the Karabakh field are great. The initial oil reserves of the field are estimated at 100 million tons. The recoverable reserves of the Karabakh field are estimated at 16 million tons of oil and 28 billion cubic meters of gas. The sea depth in the area of the field is 180 meters.

The first product from the Karabakh field is expected in 2020-2021.

As of 30 May 2018, SOCAR and Equinor signed two important agreements. The first agreement is a risk-service agreement on the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, while the second agreement - a production sharing and exploration agreement on the Dan Ulduzu, Ashrafi and Aypara promising structures. The agreements envisage a 50/50 share distribution.

Today, the company owns 7.27 percent of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) bloc development project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and 8.71 percent in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), the main export route for ACG oil.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888