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Azerbaijan to launch exploratory and development work at Absheron and Umid fields

22 June 2009 09:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev - APA-Economics. Azerbaijanâ€™s state oil firm SOCAR plans to launch exploratory and development work at Absheron and Umid offshore fields in Azerbaijanâ€™s sector of the Caspian Sea this year, said SOCAR Vice-President Khoshbext Yusifzade.

According to him, the company will start exploration at Umid in several months and start drilling activities at Absheron jointly with Franceâ€™s Total.

â€œShah Deniz is not enough. We should increase natural gas extraction,â€ he added.

French supermajor Total and the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic signed a deal on February 27, 2009 for exploration and development of an offshore oil and gas block

Under the deal, Total took a 60-percent stake as the field operator, with SOCAR holding the remaining 40 percent.

Total and SOCAR in 2008 set the preliminary arrangements for the production, development and exploration at the Absheron oil and gas block in the Azeri waters of the Caspian Sea.