By  Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev approved the agreements signed on May 30, 2018 between Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Norwegian Equinor [formerly Statoil].

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.

The first agreement was signed among SOCAR, Statoil Azerbaijan Karabakh BV (Statoil) and SOCAR Karabakh LLC (SOCAR Karabakh), and the second one - among SOCAR, Statoil Azerbaijan Ashrafi Dan Ulduzu Aypara BV ("Statoil") and SOCAR’s affiliated company.

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. 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.

SOCAR operates Karabakh field’s development. An exploration well on the Karabakh field is planned to be drilled in 2018. The company expects to receive the first reserves from the field in 2021.

The contract for developing Ashrafi – Dan Ulduzu block of structures, signed in 1997 among SOCAR (20 percent), BP (30 percent), Unocal (25.5 percent), Itochu (20 percent) and Delta HESS (4.5 percent), lost validity on March 7, 2000.

Ashrafi field with reserves of 13 billion cubic meters of gas and 17 million tons of condensate was discovered in 1999.

Within the exploration work on Ashrafi field, hydrocarbon reserves in the volume of about 20-40 million tons were revealed. Hydrocarbon reserves in the amount of 20-40 million tons were discovered at the Ashrafi field.

Ashrafi field is located to the north of the Absheron archipelago, 105 kilometers to the northeast of Baku.