The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) said that it
will sign a deal on exploration and development of the Nakhchyvan
structure in the Caspian Sea, head of the investment directorate of
the company Vagif Aliyev said, 1news.az reports.
Third parties may be involved in the contract.
SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and CEO of the RWE Jurgen Grossman
signed a memorandum of understanding on the structure on March 11,
2010, for one year.
The RWE concern is a shareholder of the Nabucco project.
A contract on Nakhchyvan was signed with ExxonMobil (USA) in 1997.
ExxonMobil was to be the operator of the project. The first drilling
in 2002 revealed a lack of hydrocarbon reserves. SOCAR received
compensation of $30 million.
Nakhchyvan is 90 km south of the Absheron Peninsula, 55 km from the
coast. The structure is 120-750 meters deep. It was revealed in 1960.
SOCAR says that Nakhchyvan has 300 billion cubic meters of gas
reserves.
