Petrofac, in a joint venture (JV) with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), has secured an Engineering and Technical Services contract to support Total and SOCAR’s Exploration & Production activities in Azerbaijan, Trend reports citing Petrofac.

"The 12-month contract, with option to extend, will support activity in the Absheron natural gas field, located in the Caspian Sea, approximately 100 kilometres south of Baku, where gas was first discovered in 2011. SOCAR and Total each have a 50 percent interest in the field. SOCAR’s semi-submersible drilling rig Heydar Aliyev successfully completed drilling of a first well earlier this year,” said the message.

"We are pleased to be expanding our service offering in Azerbaijan, and look forward to providing engineering and wider technical services to support Total and SOCAR. Petrofac’s Training Services business has been active in-country since 2004 providing skills development opportunities across the country’s oil and gas and petrochemical industries, so this award further underpins our presence in the region,” Mani Rajapathy, Managing Director, Petrofac EPS East, said.

SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the first phase of development of the Absheron field.

The first phase of the field’s development envisaged drilling one well at a sea depth of 450 meters. It is planned to produce up to 4 billion cubic meters of gas at the second stage.

Absheron’s reserves are estimated at 326 billion cubic meters of gas and 108 million tons of condensate, according to estimations of the Total specialists.