|
Summer 2004 (12.2)
Page
92
LUKoil
Latest
Developments
LUKoil's president Vahid
Alakbarov along with their Board of Directors have decided to
concentrate their activities in Azerbaijan in the projects which
they operate. In addition, LUKoil is becoming more and more active
in both Georgia and Turkey. All these activites are coordinated
by Fikrat Aliyev, manager for LUKoil's activites in the region-Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey.
LUKoil has already invested more than $600 million into the economy
of Azerbaijan. These days they are concentrating on developing
the Yalama structure (D-222), which is located on the border
between the Russian and Azeri sectors of the Caspian sea. LUKoil
and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) are
cooperating together on this project. The new package of agreements
for this contract for Block D-222 was signed in Baku on April
4, 2004, between the SOCAR's President Natig Aliyev and Vagit
Alekperov. The dimensions of the project's contract area have
been expanded from 1,287 sq km to 3,307 sq km. LUKoil's share
has been increased from 60 percent to 80 percent, with SOCAR
relinquishing 20 percent of their share based on conditions agreed
upon by both parties.
Below: LUKoil's Office in downtown Baku.
  The
Azerbaijani Block D-222 and the Russian Block Yalama-Samur have
now been combined into a single geological oil and gas perspective.
The possibility of discovering crude hydrocarbon reserves in
Block D-222 is considered to be very high, according to geophysical
analysis.
The first exploration well will be drilled at a project depth
of 4,500 m at a distance of 30 km from shore. The depth of the
sea at the drilling point is 339 m. Exploration drilling will
be carried out by state-of-the-art equipment using the most advanced
semi-submersible drilling rig that operates in the Caspian Sea-"Heydar
Aliyev" (former known as "Lider").
LUKoil Overseas, the operator of the project already has invested
$100 million in the project. An additional estimated $50 million
will be invested for drilling the first exploration well. Plans
are to drill two main exploration wells and, if deemed necessary,
two additional ones.
The project is estimated to cost $2 billion. This includes geological
exploration, exploration-estimation, construction assembly, exploitation
of the fields, implementation of environmental protection measures,
development of the infrastructure onshore area, and construction
of pipeline arteries to transport extracted crude hydrocarbon
products from the block.
Petrol Stations
LUKoil's first petrol stations in the Southern Caucasus were
built in Baku in 1995. At present, LUKoil operates 20 modern
stations where consumers are offered oil products produced in
the oil refinery in Azerbaijan.
While implementing the goal of expanding the company's petrol
stations network along the historical Great Silk Road, more and
more, LUKoil is becoming active in Georgia by utilizing the experience
its has gained in Azerbaijan. Currently, LUKoil has six petrol
stations in Georgia but there are plans to expand to 20 locations
at an estimated investment cost of $20 million.
The light oil products that LUKoil sells in Georgia are produced
at LUKoil's refinery in the city of Burgas in Bulgaria.
LUKoil is exploring the potential for expanding their activities
into Turkey, given the potential market there and the favorable
geographical location of the country. Tanker deliveries of oil
products that are produced in LUKoil's refineries located in
the Black Sea countries, especially Burgas, are considered to
be extremely viable from a commercial point of view.
Back to Index AI 12.2 (Summer
2004)
AI Home
| Search | Magazine
Choice
| Topics
| AI Store | Contact us
Other Web sites
created by Azerbaijan International
AZgallery.org | AZERI.org | HAJIBEYOV.com
|