In London, SOCAR and BP have a signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the joint exploration and development of structures D8 and D10 in the Caspian Sea, now known as the Shafag and Asiman structures, respectively. The signatories were Rovnag Abdullayev, President, SOCAR, and Andy Inglis, Chief Executive of Exploration and Production, BP. It is anticipated that a 25-year production-sharing agreement (PSA) will be signed in the near future.

Vagif Aliyev, Head, Investment Department, SOCAR, outlined some of the challenges: “For the Shafag and Asiman block development, it is necessary to apply technology capable of extracting from depths of over 7,000m. Such technology does not currently exist, but it will be developed during the next three to four years.” This previously unexplored two-structure block lies 125km to the south-east of Baku, covering an area of 1,100km sq.