Karabakh find steadies Azeri nerves
Socar and Equinor’s 440mn bl discovery in the Caspian could mitigate declines at Azerbaijan’s major fields
Socar’s offshore discovery last month offers Azerbaijan’s oil sector a much-needed shot in the arm as it tries cope with plummeting oil prices and declining production. The find—made with the state-owned oil company’s 50/50 partner Norway’s Equinor—is in the Karabakh field 120km east of Baku in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea. Reserves are estimated at more than 440mn bl. Karabakh is close to the Socar-operated shallow water Gunashli field and the giant BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) development, and Socar reckons it is large enough to justify commercial development. Nine wells are planned for production, of which six will be for crude extraction and three for water injection. P
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
