bp today announced that it has completed its acquisition of participating interests in two offshore exploration and development blocks in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Agreements finalizing the deal were signed today between bp and SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) on the sidelines of Baku Energy Week.

The first block is the Karabagh oil field, which is located 120 km east of Baku, 20-25 km from the Gunashli field at water depths of 150-200 metres. There is an existing risk service agreement (RSA) for the development of the field signed in 2018.

The second block is the Ashrafi – Dan Ulduzu – Aypara (ADUA) area located 90-110 km northeast of Baku at water depths ranging from 80 to 180 metres, containing a number of existing discoveries and prospective structures. The production sharing agreement (PSA) in relation to the ADUA area was also entered into in 2018.

bp has acquired a 35% participating interest in each of the RSA and PSA from SOCAR, which will retain a 65% participating interest in each agreement. bp will become the operator in each of the RSA and PSA.

The agreements finalizing bp’s acquisition were signed by Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR, and Gary Jones, bp regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye.

Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR, said: “We are delighted to further expand our strategic partnership with bp through these new agreements. The Karabagh and Ashrafi – Dan Ulduzu – Aypara areas offer significant potential, and bp’s expertise as operator will be instrumental in unlocking their full value. This cooperation builds on the vision laid by our National Leader Heydar Aliyev and continued under President Ilham Aliyev, reinforcing our role as a trusted global energy partner. We look forward to further successes through our strong collaboration with bp.”

Gordon Birrell, bp executive vice president, production and operations, said: “This is a new commitment to Azerbaijan and significant potential growth opportunity for bp. Growing our upstream oil and gas business, building on our major existing positions and partnerships, is key to our strategy. We have more than three decades of successful experience here, operating and investing in world-class production and export infrastructure.

“New opportunities like the contracts with SOCAR we signed today will be important in delivering our goals. Building on our longstanding partnership with SOCAR, we will identify opportunities for development that make best use of the infrastructure we have here. And as operator we will bring our global experience, technical and commercial knowledge, advanced technology and financial resources to help accelerate progress in these areas, delivering safely and efficiently.”