Baku Advances Umid-Babek plans

The Azerbaijan government has confirmed its commitment for a risk service contract signed for the exploration and development of the offshore Umid-Babek gas-condensate block in the Caspian, it said February 7.

According to the statement, the deal was signed January 12 by state-owned Socar and the joint venture Socar Umid. The latter's partners are Socar (80% interest) and privately-owned UK-registered Nobel Upstream which holds the other 20%. The partners have been involved in Umid's development since 2010, when the gas and condensate discovery was announced after drilling the first exploration well in the area.  

As Socar president Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier, the partners want to attract other investors to Umid-Babek and are looking for western investors' expertise in developing the complex high pressure, high temperature (HP/HT) Umid field, production from which declined by over 50% during 2014.

Currently Umid produces around 1.5mn m³/day of gas which is sent to local gas grid for domestic supply. With expansion of the development and additional production volumes, output will be delivered to international markets using the Southern Gas Corridor pipelines.   

Umid reserves are estimated at 200bn m³ of gas and 40mn tons of condensate, however further appraisal is required to confirm it. Babek has yet not been explored yet but Socar estimates its reserves at 400bn m³ of gas.

Azerbaijan desk