BP seals Azerbaijan oil deal for Caspian Sea
BP has signed a deal with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Socar) to develop a deepwater gas field in the Caspian Sea.
BP’s new chief executive Bob Dudley travelled to Baku for the signing of the new production sharing agreement (PSA) on the Shafag-Asiman structure in the Azerbaijan sector of the sea.
The deal covers an area of around 1,100 square kilometers and has never been explored before, BP said in a statement.
The sea in the block is about 650-800 metres deep, about half the depth BP was drilling in when its Macondo well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the worst ever U.S. oil spill.
BP and SOCAR signed a memorandum of understanding on exploration of this bloc in 2009 and agreed on main commercial details of the deal in July this year.