Norway’s Equinor company and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR are maturing plans for exploration at Azerbaijan’s oil and gas fields, Equinor told Trend.

"Together with SOCAR we are now maturing the plans for exploration and appraisal operations in Karabakh and Ashrafi, Dan Ulduzu, Aypara. We cannot comment on any further details about the work program at his point," said the company.

Summing up the results of its operation in Azerbaijan, the Norwegian company said that in 2018, the key milestone for Equinor was the signing with SOCAR of the Risk Service Agreement related to the appraisal and development of the Karabakh oilfield and the Production Sharing Agreement for the Ashrafi, Dan Ulduzu, Aypara exploration area.

"The RSA and PSA agreements represent a natural next step for us in the region and will strengthen our position in a prolific basin and develop growth options. The licenses lie in close proximity to the ACG field in a basin we know well. We now look forward to work on these new exploration projects in partnership with SOCAR," said Equinor.

On May 30, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Norwegian Equinor inked two agreements. The first agreement is a risk-service agreement on the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, while the second is a production sharing and exploration agreement on the Dan Ulduzu, Ashrafi and Aypara promising structures.

The Karabakh oil and gas field, discovered in 2000, is located 130 kilometers to the east of Baku. The sea depth in the field varies in the range of 250-450 meters. The initial oil reserves of the field are estimated at 100 million tons.

The recoverable reserves of the Karabakh field are estimated at 16 million tons of oil and 28 billion cubic meters of gas. The sea depth in the area of the field is 180 meters.

SOCAR operates Karabakh field’s development. An exploration well on the Karabakh field is planned to be drilled in 2018. The company expects to receive the first reserves from the field in 2021.

The contract for developing Ashrafi – Dan Ulduzu block of structures, signed in 1997 between SOCAR (20 percent), BP (30 percent), Unocal (25.5 percent), Itochu (20 percent) and Delta HESS (4.5 percent), lost validity on March 7, 2000. Hydrocarbon reserves in the amount of 20-40 million tons were discovered at the Ashrafi field.