OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2009. The Azerbaijani government is sure of fast realization of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on joint exploration and development of the Shafag and Asiman structures (their previous names were D8 and D10 respectively) in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. The MOU was signed in London on 13 July 2009 in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, by Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Andy Inglis, BP’s chief executive of exploration and production.

President Ilham Aliyev claimed that work ob the recently-signed agreements will start already next year.

Meanwhile, the companies have not fixed exact schedule of discussion of conditions of thre future production sharing agreement (PSA) and that is why terms of coordination of PSA basic principles are lacking as well.

In accordance with existing procedure after signing of the MOU that gives exclusive right to BP to conduct negotiations about production sharing agreement on both structures’ exploration and development the sides should accord the PSA basic principles and a contract itself on this basis.

After the signing the MOU should pass the process of ratification in Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani parliament).

The two-structure block lies some 125 km (78 miles) to the south-east of Baku. Its covers an area of some 1 100 square kilometers and has never been explored before. It is located in a deepwater section of about 650-800 meters with reservoir depth of about 7 000 meters.

Earlier SOCAR first vice president Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh said that only 2D geophysical surveys had been conducted at the above-listed perspective structures.

“According to the theory of probability these deeply-laying structures (7-7,500 m) can be gas,” he said.