Japan Azerbaijan Oil Co., a joint venture led by State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic, awarded a contract for collection and processing of shallow-water 3D seismic data over a Caspian Sea production-sharing agreement area to Caspian Geophysical, a joint venture of Schlumberger Ltd. and SOCAR. The area includes the Yanan-Tava, Mugan-deniz, and Atasgah structures.
This is the second phase of a seismic acquisition project over JAOC's PSA area, which lies 80 km south of Baku. Caspian Geophysical also collected the first phase of the seismic survey, in the same license area in deeper water.
Second-phase seismic acquisition will begin this month and take 4 or 5 months. It is in extremely shallow water, less than 5 m, around mud volcanoes. Schlumberger will use a proprietary radio telemetry system for the survey that it says is well suited to shallow waters and environmentally sensitive ecosystems.
John Close, regional vice-president for Schlumberger Reservoir Evaluation Seismic, said this is the largest shallow-water 3D project announced to date in the Caspian region. With the increased interest being shown in shallow-water prospects in the Caspian Sea, he expects robust activity for the shallow-water crew throughout 2000.
Japan Azerbaijan Oil Co. is led by SOCAR with a 50% interest. The rest of the venture is held by four Japanese companies: Japan Exploration Co., 22.5%; Indonesia Petroleum Ltd., 12.5%; Teikoku Oil Co., 7.5%; and Itochu Corp., 7.5%.
