AZERBAIJAN SIGNS ANOTHER BIG OFFSHORE OIL CONTRACT…

Azerbaijan and foreignpartners signed yesterday the contract for the development of the Kurdashioffshore oilfield, comprised of three blocks in the southern part ofAzerbaijan’s Caspian shelf. Situated at sea depths ranging from 50 to 600meters, Kurdashi is estimated to contain approximately 100 million tons ofoil. The investment is projected at US$2.5 billion. The State Oil Company ofAzerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 50 percent of the shares; Italy’s Agip–the projectoperator–25 percent; Japan’s Mitsui 15 percent; and Turkey’s TPAO andSpain’s Repsol, 5 percent each. The individual agreements with Agip andMitsui had been signed during President Haidar Aliev’s official visits toItaly and to Japan in September 1997 and February 1998, respectively. Thesecompanies edged out Shell, Amoco and other major competitors in theinternational tender. This is Azerbaijan’s tenth big international oilcontract since 1994. It raises the planned foreign investment to someUS$33-34 billion in these ten projects. The figure does not includerelatively lesser projects (such as those reported below) in the oil sector.(Turan, Business wires, June 1 and 2)

.. AND TWO ONSHORE ONES.