Каспинфо
июнь 2002

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Название: Нефтегазовая отрасль стран Прикаспия на англ. языке
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* Компания ExxonMobil не намерена пролонгировать действие СРП, заключенного с Правительством Азербайджана на разработку месторождения Огуз, т.к. при проведении разведочных работ не было выявлено коммерческих запасов нефти.
(10.06.2002)


Полный Текст
Нефтегазовая отрасль стран Прикаспия на англ. языке
Нефтегазовая отрасль стран Прикаспия на англ. языке

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/13:24 06.06.2002/ ExxonMobil to quit Azeri project due to lack of oil

Baku, June 6, 2002. (CNA). The International oil major ExxonMobil said on Wednesday
it planned to close one of its offshore oil projects in Azerbaijan next year because
it had failed to find enough oil.
The ExxonMobil move follows a number of recent failures by rivals such
as TotalFinaElf or Agip to discover oil in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea,
which some experts say contains less oil than officially estimated.
A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil in Azerbaijan said the firm would abandon in 2003 its
production sharing agreement with the Azeri state oil firm
SOCAR over the Oguz oil block, after an exploration well drilled in 2001 failed to
discover big volumes of oil or gas.
"The exploration period on Oguz expires in 2003 and we do not intend to extend this
contract after we failed to discover commercially viable reserves," Nikki Kazimova
told Reuters.
She said ExxonMobil was due to drill one well on Oguz under the agreement with
SOCAR and did not intend to drill a second well despite SOCAR's proposal to extend
the exploration period.
"We will wait until the agreement expires to officially close the project," she
said. However, Kazimova said ExxonMobil was still committed to other projects in
Azerbaijan as the firm participates in five different production sharing agreements.
"ExxonMobil have already invested more than $1 billion in Azerbaijan, which shows
that this is a strategic region for us," she said.
Azerbaijan has signed 21 production sharing agreements worth $60 billion with
international oil firms over the past decade. The failure of Oguz reduces the number
of projects still in place to 15. They are worth some $48 billion.
Only one offshore project in Azerbaijan is producing oil so far, from
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields developped by an international consortium led by
BP. Oguz was one of the closest blocks to this area.

CNA/www.caspian.ru