An Azerbaijani parliamentary committee has recommended sending a revised production-sharing agreement for the offshore Absheron gas and condensate field to a plenary vote.
The draft law was reviewed Nov. 6 by the Milli Majlis Committee on International Relations and Interparliamentary Affairs, according to the Vesti Baku report.
The bill would approve an amended agreement covering exploration, development and production sharing at the Absheron offshore block in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea and authorize its implementation.
The revised agreement names SOCAR, TotalEnergies EP Absheron B.V., SOCAR Absheron and ADNOC International ProjectCo 1RSC Limited as participants.
The committee supported forwarding the legislation to a plenary session. The recommendation is not the final approval; the Milli Majlis must still vote on the bill.
Project Moving to Full-Field Development
The original Absheron agreement was signed in 2009. ADNOC acquired a 30% interest in the project in 2023, leaving SOCAR and TotalEnergies with 35% stakes each.
The field’s first development phase, which began production in 2023, has annual capacity of about 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 12,000 barrels per day of condensate.
SOCAR, TotalEnergies and ADNOC’s international investment arm XRG took the final investment decision for full-field development in September. TotalEnergies said the expansion would raise overall field production to 6 billion cubic meters of gas a year and 47,000 barrels of condensate per day, with startup expected in 2029.
The plan includes four subsea wells, a subsea pipeline and a new electrified onshore processing plant. Gas is expected to serve Azerbaijan’s domestic market and be exported to Turkey through existing regional infrastructure.
Under a separate long-term supply agreement, Turkey’s BOTAŞ said it would receive a total of 33 billion cubic meters of Absheron gas over 15 years beginning in 2029.
Public accounts have not disclosed which commercial terms were changed in the revised production-sharing agreement. Additional details may emerge when lawmakers consider the bill in plenary session.