BP announces start date of seismic exploration at Karabagh field

Seismic surveys at the Karabagh field are planned to begin on December 1, Report informs referring to BP Azerbaijan.

The Karabagh project seismic survey program involves Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) seismic survey, and High-Resolution (HR) / Ultra-High Resolution (UHR) seismic survey.

The OBN survey is scheduled to begin in December 2025 and will last up to 3.5 months. The HR/UHR survey is planned for March–April 2026, with a duration of up to 45 days.

BP is the operator under a risk service agreement related to the development of the Karabagh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The OBN seismic survey is expected to enhance the reservoir understanding, support well planning, and optimize field development strategies.

The HR / UHR seismic survey aims to assist with the identification of geological hazards that could affect well integrity, and subsurface hazards that could impact safe installation of a platform and other infrastructure.

For the Karabagh OBN survey, it is anticipated that the Guba will be used to deploy the ocean bottom nodes, and the Murovdag will be used as the seismic source vessel. These vessels have been used on previous bp seismic acquisition programs. The survey vessels will operate on a 24-hour basis during data acquisition.

The survey program will include mobilization of survey vessels, deployment of receivers and seismic source, data acquisition, comprising the bulk of the program, retrieval of equipment and demobilization.

On June 3, 2025, during the Baku Energy Week, BP signed agreements with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to acquire stakes in two projects.

The first project is the Karabagh field, located 120 km east of Baku and 20-25 km from the Gunashli field, at a depth of 150-200 meters. The second is the prospective Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) block, located 90-110 km northeast of Baku, at a depth of 80-180 meters.

In each of these projects, BP acquired a 35% stake from SOCAR, with the remaining 65% remaining with the Azerbaijani state-owned company. BP will operate both projects.

Preliminary estimates place the in-place oil reserves at the Karabagh field at over 60 million tons, of which 21 million tons of oil and 13 billion cubic meters of gas are considered recoverable.

According to Fitch Ratings, peak production at the Karabagh offshore oil field will be 7.5 million barrels per day.

Calculations based on the agency's data suggest that the field's annual production at peak will exceed 2.7 billion barrels.