Best of 2016 | Petronas expands in Azerbaijan

*This post was originally published on September 20, 2016

Malaysia's national oil company Petronas and Azerbaijan’s state-owned Socar have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore, develop and produce hydrocarbons from a block in the Caspian Sea.

Petronas Towers (credit: Petronas)

Under the MOU, the pair have six months to draft the main commercial terms of a production-sharing agreement for the Goshadash block, Socar said.

The Goshadash prospect is 15 km offshore in the north-western part of the Absheron archipelago in shallow water area of 10 to 50 metres depth. The block was a part of broad area that was explored by UK major BP. However, it was not included in the final contract area for the Shallow water Absheron peninsula project, which was signed between BP and Socar December 2014.

Petronas holds a 15.5% share in Shah Deniz gas and condensate development and South Caucasus gas pipeline after it acquired the stake from Norway's Statoil for $2.25bn in 2014. 

Azerbaijan desk