KURDASHI MULTINATIONAL OIL CONTRACT RATIFIED.

The Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan has ratified the production sharing contract to develop the Kurdashi offshore oilfield. The consortium is comprised of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company, Italy’s Agip, Japan’s Mitsui, Spain’s Repsol and Turkish Petroleum. Their respective stakes are 50 percent, 25 percent, 15 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent. Agip is the project operator. The contract runs for 25 years and the value of the investment is estimated at US$2.5 billion.

Situated in the southern part of Azerbaijan’s Caspian sector, Kurdashi holds recoverable reserves estimated at more than 100 million tons of oil. The field consists of three deposits (Kurdashi proper, Araz Deniz, and Kurgan Deniz) at sea depths ranging from 50 to 500 meters. This is Azerbaijan’s tenth offshore oil contract with international companies. The contracts’ total value has reached approximately US$35 billion at this point. (Energy and Politics, no. 24, July 16, 1998)

TURKMENISTAN TURNS THE TABLES ON MOSCOW WITH REGARD TO DEBTS.