Land Oil Contract Entered into Force

The President of Azerbaijan signed the Law on ratification of the contract between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Zenith Aran Oil Company Limited for the exploration, development and joint oil extraction from the fields Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab on June 24.

The presidential decree states that "after the entry into force of this Act, the PSA and additional services on it are a law and will have precedence over any other provisions that are not included in the PSA and its annex."

The contract was ratified by Parliament on June 14. Earlier, on April 26 the Cabinet of Ministers resolution number 173 provided government guarantees on the contract and gave the green light to implement the obligations of the parties. The agreement was signed for a period of 25 years on March 16 and provides the equity of the sides: SOCAR - 20% and Zenith Aran Oil Company Limited - 80%.

After the entry into force of the contract, for 150 days, the contractor will prepare a work plan for the rehabilitation and development of the contract area, which must be approved by SOCAR within the next 60 days in the absence of objection.

According to the requirement of the contract, initially 70% of engineering and technical personnel and 90% of the workers have to be citizens of Azerbaijan. After 5 years, the ratio of the two indices will change upwards - to 90% and 95%.

The Muradkhanli field was opened in 1971, Zardab - in 1981, and Jafarli - in 1984 on the territory of the Imishli region. The total contract area reaches 642.4 square kilometers, and the residual resource of the block is estimated at 1.8 million tons of oil and 36 million cubic meters of gas. The contract field produces 350 barrels of oil and small volumes of gas per day for industrial and domestic needs. -0-