Karabakh find steadies Azeri nerves
Socar and Equinor’s 440mn bl discovery in the Caspian could mitigate declines at Azerbaijan’s major fields
Socar’s offshore discovery last month offers Azerbaijan’s oil sector a much-needed shot in the arm as it tries cope with plummeting oil prices and declining production. The find—made with the state-owned oil company’s 50/50 partner Norway’s Equinor—is in the Karabakh field 120km east of Baku in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea. Reserves are estimated at more than 440mn bl. Karabakh is close to the Socar-operated shallow water Gunashli field and the giant BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) development, and Socar reckons it is large enough to justify commercial development. Nine wells are planned for production, of which six will be for crude extraction and three for water injection. P
Also in this section
2 May 2025
Fast-tracking US project approvals and increased trade pressures have already changed the LNG landscape since Trump came to office, with further transformation ahead
2 May 2025
Peru’s state-owned hydrocarbons agency has launched the search for new investors for Offshore Block Z-69, a high-potential asset in the prolific Talara Basin.
2 May 2025
The scars of the Russia crisis have accelerated Europe’s push to wean itself off gas dependence as the growing globalisation of LNG becomes a double-edged sword
1 May 2025
The NOC’s dire financial situation and maturing fields have left the authorities with little choice but to reduce crude expectations
