Azerbaijan, Baku, April 1 / Trend /
The Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers approved the maintenance and obligations of the Azerbaijani government within the contract for exploration and development of prospective structures "Shafag" and "Asiman" in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, the Cabinet of Ministers said.
SOCAR and British BP signed a PSA contract for exploration and development of the block in October last year. SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev and BP Azerbaijan head Rashid Javanshir signed the document.
The contract was signed for 30 years. Exploration period will be four years, with possibility of extension for three years. Two wells are planned to be drilled within the first phase. Two more wells will be drilled if necessary within the second one. In the operational period the sides will implement joint operatorship within the project. Share participation in the contract is expected on the scheme 50 to 50 percent.
Stocks of the structure are estimated at 300 -500 billion cubic meters of gas.
"Shafag" and "Asiman" structures are located 125 kilometers to the south-east of Baku. SOCAR and BP signed a memorandum on "Mutual understanding" on the joint exploration and development of "Shafag" and "Asiman" in London in July 2009.
Exploration work has not been conducted on the block before. It is located in the depth of 650-800 m. with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.
BP is the main foreign oil investor in Azerbaijan. It heads the projects to develop the block of oil and gas fields "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" and gas condensate field Shah Deniz. BP is also an operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa pipelines.