Baglan Group ups stake in project for Bahar, Gum Deniz offshore block development
BAKU. May 10 (Interfax) - The company Baglan Group FZCO (United Arab Emirates) has complete a deal to acquire Rafi Oil's (UAE) 33.33% stake in Bahar Energy Limited (BEL), which is developing the Bahar gas field and Gum Deniz oil field in the Caspian Sea offshore of Azerbaijan.
In a statement, Greenfields Petroleum, which also owns a 33.33% stake in BEL, said that Baglan Group FZCO, which owns 33.34% of BEL's shares, finalized a deal to acquire Rafi Oil's 33.33% stake on January 17, 2012.
Baglan Group has warned Greenfields about this $150-million deal, which resulted in the company raising its stake in Bahar Energy Limited to 66.67%, the statement said.
Greenfields emphasized that the transaction between Baglan Group and Rafi Oil will not influence the company's position in BEL or reflect on its contractual obligations in developing Bahar and Gum Deniz.
According to Greenfields' information, Bahar Energy plans to completely wrap up a seismic survey program at Bahar and Gum Deniz by the end of this year.
The program includes 2D seismic at the Gum Deniz field and 3D seismic at the Bahar 2 exploration area. Seismic survey at Gum Deniz has already finished up and covered 140 square kilometers of the field's territory. At the moment, the data are being processed in Houston, and their interpretation is slated to finish up this summer, the statement said.
At the Bahar 2 exploration area, 3D seismic will resume by the end of May. Implementation of this program commenced in 2011 but was halted due to bad weather conditions, Greenfields said.
After seismic survey is completed, the data will be processed and interpreted, which should finish up by the end of this year. If the interpretations confirm Bahar 2's appeal, Bahar Energy will develop a strategy for appraisal drilling at the area, which could begin at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014, the statement said.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) and Bahar Energy signed an agreement on the exploration, development and share distribution of production at Bahar and Gum Deniz on December 22, 2009. Bahar Energy has an 80% stake in the project, and SOCAR has 20%.
The contract was calculated for 25 years, with the possibility of extending it by another five. The investment program is initially estimated at $1 billion, all of which will come from Bahar Energy.
The Gum Deniz oil field is located 21 kilometers south-east of Baku and was commissioned in 1955. The Bahar gas field was launched in 1969.
Residual gas reserves at the contracted block total 25 billion cubic meters (bcm).