Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR said Wednesday that ExxonMobil is unlikely to drill additional wells on the Zafar-Mashal block in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, the clearest signal yet that the structure may hold no commercially viable reserves.
SOCAR president Natiq Aliyev, whose company holds a 50-percent stake in the block, confirmed that ExxonMobil had fulfilled its contractual obligations by reaching the target depth on the first exploratory well. ExxonMobil holds a 30-percent interest; ConocoPhillips owns the remaining 20 percent.
An ExxonMobil spokeswoman said analysts still needed time to process data from the well, adding: "We will be analysing the considerable amount of data... and that could take some time." The company declined to announce formal results while operations remained ongoing.
The well, drilled to a depth of more than seven kilometers, may rank among the costliest exploratory wells ever sunk in the Caspian, according to industry sources. Difficult geological conditions beneath the seabed have complicated drilling throughout the project.
A dry result at Zafar-Mashal would represent another setback for Azerbaijan's oil sector, which has faced a string of disappointing exploratory outcomes in recent years.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.