Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 18 / Trend A.Badalova /
Norwegian Statoil has decided not to pursue negotiations on Abay project in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea as a result of commercial and technical evaluations of the project, the company's spokesperson Bård Glad Pedersen told Trend.
Pedersen mentioned that Statoil signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) on the Abay block in March 2011.
"However, as part of a global prioritisation process and the overall commercial and technical evaluations related to the Abay project, we have decided not to pursue negotiations on Abay," Pedersen wrote Trend via e-mail on Monday.
Earlier a source in KazMunaiGas (KMG) national company told Trend that Statoil has officially informed KMG about its intention to withdraw from the Abay project. However, the source refused to announce the reasons of Statoil's withdrawal from the project, citing the confidentiality of the negotiation process between the parties.
According to the agreement signed between KMG and Statoil in 2011, the parties planned to work to coordinate the conditions of joint activity within Abay's implementation. Moreover, the parties agreed on Statoil's participation in the building of a jack-up rig which will be used in future for exploration of the Caspian Sea shelf.
The first memorandum of understanding on possible cooperation on Abay was signed between KazMunaiGas national company and Statoil on June 30, 2005.
In June 2010, as part of the Fourth International Investment Summit in Almaty, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding.
Abay is located in the northern part of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea and is 65 kilometers from the coast at a depth of 8-10 meters.
