Expert: French Total company to hardly leave Absheron project

French Total company will hardly leave the project to develop Absheron gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, said Ilham Shaban, Director of the Caspian Barrel Oil Studies Centre.

This week it was announced that Total and E.ON companies have left the trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) project. French Total has earlier sold its shares in two big and promising gas projects implemented in Azerbaijan – Shah-Deniz and Southern Caucasian gas pipeline – and has also refused to join the trans-Anadou (TANAP) gas pipeline.

In the Absheron oil and gas production project Total has 40% share, SOCAR has 40% and French-Swiss GDF Suez owns 20%.

“Total will hardly leave Absheron, even if it is offered good money. The thing is that having such a field as an asset the company wins more, than it loses. The asset affects its shares. There is also a probability that after drilling of the second evaluation well, Absheron’s resources will grow and this means growth of assets and shares of the company and shareholders’ dividends. Therefore, Absheron is a very important project for Total,” said the expert.

He said in December 2013 it was announced that French company will leave the main gas project in the Caspian Sea and the infrastructure projects in Azerbaijan. “That time some informed sources said that Total has been waiting for the ceremony of the Shah-Deniz-2 project signing and right after that in early January 2014 it started the talks to sell its share in the Shah-Deniz and Southern Caucasian gas pipeline projects. As a result of that its 10% share was sold to the Turkish TPAO company. Prior to that French company has also refused to join TANAP.”

“Total administration explained that the infrastructure projects are non-specialized for the production company and it is going to focus on the assets, where the company plays a dominating role. As we know, in Shah Deniz project Total acted as a passive shareholder, it did not play a key role in the decision-making. Therefore, the company’s leaving the project is understandable,”  expert noted.

Speaking about the reasons delaying the Absheron field development, Shaban said that at present there is no floating drilling rig available for that.

“All drilling rigs are used in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) and Shah-Deniz-2 projects. They will be freed by 2018 and after that works on the Absheron will begin. According to the preliminary information, first gas is expected to be extracted from Absheron in 2021,” added the expert.

In early September 201 Total announced discovery of a big gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Absheron structure is located 100 km southeast of Baku, on the depth of about 6550 meters. Azerbaijani geologists discovered Absheron field in the 1960s. Gas resources on the field total 350 billion cub.m. and condensate – 45 million tons.—0-