OREANDA-NEWS. BP and SOCAR (the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan) today signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) to jointly explore for and develop potential prospects in the shallow water area around the Absheron Peninsula in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

This new agreement is part of the government’s plan to ensure that all of Azerbaijan’s offshore areas are fully explored.

The PSA was signed by Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, on behalf of the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Gordon Birrell, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

Mr Abdullayev said: “The signing of this new PSA, which clearly deepens our partnership with BP, is an important milestone for all parties involved – the government, SOCAR and BP. It marks the beginning of a new phase in our cooperation. This phase will enable us to work together to ensure the long term future for Azerbaijan’s oil and gas production through exploring new opportunities. We look forward to this new opportunity that has a potential to contribute to maintaining oil production in Azerbaijan for many decades.”

Mr Birrell said: “BP is proud to embark on this new era of exploration in the Caspian together with SOCAR. This opens a new stage in our partnership.  This new partnership is based on BP’s extensive experience in responsibly exploring and developing in shallow water areas around the world and our expertise in using the best technology available in the industry. So we thank the government and SOCAR for another opportunity to deploy our expertise and technology, this time in the shallow water.”

The PSA contract area stretches along the margins of the Caspian basin to the south of the Absheron Peninsula.  The acreage features water depths of up to 40 meters with potential reservoir depths of 3000-5000 meters.