SOCAR and Statoil sign memorandum

SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) and Norway's Statoil signed a Memorandum of Understanding on prospective structures 'Zafar' and 'Mashal' in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, in Baku on Monday.

The first contract for the development of the Zafar and Mashal offshore structures was signed between SOCAR and U.S. ExxonMobil on April 27, 1999. The State Oil Company had a 50 per cent stake in the equity and ExxonMobil - 30 per cent. In 2000, the remaining 20 per cent was transferred to U.S. firm Conoco Phillips.

Investment in the project is estimated at $2 billion and the predicted oil reserves at 140 million tons, of which 100 million accounts for Zafar and 40 million for Mashal.

The contract was closed due to discovery of commercially unattractive volumes of hydrocarbons.

SOCAR geologists estimate reserves on these structures at 300 billion cubic meters of gas and 37 million tons of condensate.


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