Total to create joint venture with SOCAR

By  Trend

France's Total company will create a new joint venture with Azerbaijan's State Oil Company SOCAR on the Absheron field development project, said Total's Vice-President of Europe and Caspian Region Bernard Clement.

He made the remarks during the 24th Caspian International Oil and Gas Conference in Baku June 1.

SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in late 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program for the first phase of development of the Absheron field.

At the first stage, the field development includes drilling one well at a depth of 450 meters. The extraction will amount to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which will fully flow to the domestic market of Azerbaijan, as well as significant amounts of condensate. First gas could be produced as early as in 2019.

It is expected that Total will make a final investment decision on Absheron until the end of 2017, and the first appraisal well will be drilled at the end of this year. The approximate cost of the first phase is estimated at $1 billion.

SOCAR geologists assume that the reserves of the Absheron field amounts to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate.

Total is the operator of Absheron with a 40 percent  interest alongside SOCAR (40 percent) and ENGIE (20 percent).Moreover, Total possesses a 5 percent share in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project.