The Azerbaijani Parliament has ratified the contract on exploration, development and sharing of products on the sea blocks of Shafag and Asiman. The document was signed between SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic) and BP on October 7, 2010, Trend reports.
The contract was signed for 30 years. Exploration will take 4 years and can be prolonged by 3 more. Two boreholes will be drilled at the first stage and two more at the second. Exploitation will be joint. The sides have a 50%-share each.
The blocks have estimated reserves of 300-500 billion cubic meters of gas.
Shafag and Asiman are located 125 km south-east of Baku. SOCAR and BP signed a memorandum on mutual understanding in London in 2009.
There have been no previous exploration activities at a sea depth of 650-800 meters, with the reservoir at a depth of 7000 meters.
BP is the main foreign oil investor in Azerbaijan. It supervises the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil and gas field and the Shah-Deniz gas field. BP operates the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa oil pipelines.
