Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 21
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Further work is planned for a more in-depth analysis of the potential of the prospective structure of "Goshadash" in Azerbaijan, the Head of the Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR Ibrahim Ahmedov told Trend.
"Regarding Goshadash and other prospective areas, the clarification of the potential requires a more in-depth analysis, and further work is planned in this direction," Ahmedov said.
The SOCAR and Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas signed in September 2016 a Memorandum of understanding on the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons on the block of fields, which is a part of the potentially prospective Goshadash structure.
The validity of the Memorandum of understanding for the development of the "Goshadash" block has expired, Petronas company told Trend earlier.
"In addition, after conducting technical and commercial assessments, Petronas decided not to continue negotiations on the development of the block," the company said.
The head of public relations department noted that for commercial reasons, the details of negotiations on different fields are usually not subject to disclosure before the signing of a binding agreement (e.g. PSA), which is ratified by the parliament and is presented to the public.
"At the same time, I note that at the moment negotiations are underway with foreign partners regarding many promising areas. In general, negotiations on different fields are conducted with dozens of companies. Until such time as a binding contract (such as PSA or RSA) is signed, all interim agreements and negotiations are of familiarization nature," Ahmedov said.
The head of public relations department noted that different companies may show different interest in the same field.
"If a company has not shown interest in certain fields, this does not testify to the non-profitability of those fields. The reasons usually lie in the strategic investment plan of the company and are often unknown to us,” Ahmedov said.
“Companies have limited funds and a limited choice of investment opportunities. Consequently, the disinterest of one company in a particular field may be due to the fact, for example, that the company has more preferred investment opportunities, or (theoretically) does not have the funds in this time window, or the company has changed its strategy in general, etc.,” Ahmedov added.
“At the same time, another company may be interested in the same structure or field, because it has funds in a certain time window, or synergy with other projects is obtained, or this field looks more preferable in the portfolio of proposals of this company, etc.,” Ahmedov noted.
“Thus, for various reasons, these or other companies may be interested in projects at different levels. The lack of interest of a certain company in a certain prospective area in itself is not an indicator of non-profitability of that area," Ahmedov concluded.
The "Goshadash" structure is in the north-western part of the Absheron archipelago, 15 kilometers from the sea shore, 35-40 kilometers from Baku. The water depth here is 10-50 meters.
In Azerbaijan, the Petronas company owns a 15.5 percent stake in the Shah Deniz gas field development project and the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline.
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