State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has signed a memorandum of understanding with BP PLC, giving the operator the exclusive right to negotiate on exploration and development of offshore Block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Block D230 lies in 300 m of water with reservoir depths of 3,000-5,000 m.
In April, SOCAR let a contract to Amec Foster Wheeler for work related to the ongoing modernization and expansion of the Heydar Aliyev refinery at Baku in Azerbaijan.
Total E&P’s Absheron X-2 well was drilled 100 km southeast of Baku in September 2011. Drilled to 6,874 m in 474 m of water, the well tested a hydrocarbon-bearing interval at 33.9 MMcfd of nonassociated gas and 2,500 b/d of 42.5° gravity condensate.
The Absheron block lies just east of Shah Deniz field where BP let a $1.5 billion for the transport and installation of the deeper water subsea production systems for Shah Deniz Stage 2 offshore Azerbaijan.
(Oil&Gas Journal, May 26, 2016)
