SOCAR, Chinese corporation BGP create joint venture

Baku, October 3, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR) and the Chinese company BGP Inc, an affiliate company of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture, SOCAR said.

The signing ceremony was attended by SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev, first vice-president, academician Khoshbakht Yusifzade, vice-president on Geology and Geophysics Bahram Huseynov and president of BGP Inc Gou Liang, as well as other high-ranking officials of the two companies. The agreement was signed by SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev and BGP Inc. president Gou Liang. The newly established joint enterprise will engage in joint seismic exploration works in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea basin and create new opportunities for exchange of experience between the specialists of the two companies.

Rovnag Abdullayev said that along with using modern technologies in all areas, SOCAR also works for discovery of new fields and stabilization of output: "Creation of a joint venture with Chinese BGP company on geological and geophysical works creates a basis for exchange of experience for a mutual benefit of the specialists of the both countries."

Note, on June 6, SOCAR and BGP, the affiliate company of CNPC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishment of cooperation, as well as review of opportunities to create a joint venture in order to provide geophysical services. In line with the MoU, the sides held negotiations and prepared a final document.

Wholly owned by CNPC, BGP is one of the world's competitive geophysical companies, delivering a wide range of geophysical products and services such as onshore seismic surveys, shallow water seismic surveys, offshore seismic surveys, data processing, data interpretation and reservoir geophysics, geophysical software systems, equipment manufacturing and IT services.