Shafag-Asiman gas field

History

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) for exploring the Shafag-Asiman structures was signed on July 13, 2009. According to the initial agreement, the offshore block will be jointly developed by BP and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The MOU was signed by the President of SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev and Chief Executive of Exploration and Production of BP, Andy Inglis in the presence of President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown. The MOU was followed by signing of Heads of Agreement on basic commercial principles on joint exploration and development of the fields by Rovnag Abdullayev and President of BP Azerbaijan, Rashid Javanshir, on July 6, 2010, during the visit of the President of BP, Tony Hayward, to Azerbaijan. The production sharing agreement for development and exploration of Shafag-Asiman block covers a period of thirty years with potential extension of up to five more years. The first two exploration wells will be drilled within the next four years with possible extension of exploration works for three more years. All costs for exploration works will be covered by BP. Development of the Shafag-Asiman block is considered by some as extension of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) project, operated by BP. Exploration works are expected to start in the second half of 2016 and continue through the second half of 2017.

Reservoir

The offshore block covers an area of nearly 1100 km2 which have never been explored before. The fields are located in a deepwater section of close to 650 to with a reservoir depth of about 7000 m. The initial reserves are estimated to be about 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate. The 2D geophysical surveys previously conducted at block indicate that these deeply laying structures may contain big amounts of gas. The 3D-seismic study in three stages is being carried out by Caspian Geophysical under BP contract. The first phase will be completed in 2011; the second data processing phase in 2012 and the third data interpretation phase in the first half of 2014.

References

References

1. (2010-07-06). "SOCAR and BP sign agreement on development project of oil and gas structures in Azerbaijan". [[Today.az]].
2. (2010-07-06). "SOCAR starts making technical concept of new refinery for Turkey's holding Petkim". Caspian Business News.
3. (2009-07-13). "BP and SOCAR Sign MOU To Explore New Caspian Acreage". [[BP]].
4. (2010-07-07). "Tony Hayward's Visit to Azerbaijan". Financial.
5. (2010-07-07). "BP committed to Azeri energy projects despite sell-out speculation". Azernews.
6. Jeremy Beckman. (2010-05-01). "Operators chasing further reserves in established/emerging offshore Middle East plays". Offshore Magazine.
7. (2010-07-06). "Azerbaijan's SOCAR and BP sign new agreement". News.az.
8. E.Ismayilov. (2011-08-08). "BP-Azerbaijan to launch drilling on Shafag-Asiman in 2016 (UPDATE)". [[Trend News Agency]].
9. (2010-06-13). "BP ilə ARDNŞ arasında "Şəfəq" və "Asiman" perspektiv strukturlarının birgə geoloji-kəşfiyyatı və işlənməsinə dair anlaşma memorandumu imzalanıb". [[Azeri Press Agency]].
10. E.Ismayilov. (2010-06-04). "AFR Reserves of several perspective fields in Azerbaijan exceed 2.5tln cu.m gas". All Business.