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