Azerbaijani And US' Oil Field Service Companies Create Joint Venture in Caspian

The Baku-based integrated drilling and well services company SOCAR-AQS and Halliburton signed this week a Memorandum of Understanding to form a new joint venture to provide a broad suite of oilfield products and services in Azerbaijan.

The new JV will reportedly have its headquarters in Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku, and will carry out operations both on onshore and offshore oilfields of Azerbaijan. SOCAR-AQS and Halliburton plan to complete the creation of the company and kick off operations sometime in the second quarter of 2020 following coordination and finalization of terms and conditions.

Halliburton top official Ahmed Kenawi said world-class services and products will step into the region’s oil industry with the JV coming online. 

“By aligning with SOCAR-AQS, we believe the planned joint venture will be uniquely positioned to bring world-class offerings to meet the region’s growing demands in oilfield products and services,” said Kanawi, senior vice president of the Halliburton Europe, Eurasia & Sub-Saharan Africa Region, a statement published by Halliburton reads. “Additionally, our collaboration supports the country’s strategy of localizing high-end technological services.” 

Founded in 2007, SOCAR-AQS is a joint venture between SOCAR and Nobel Oil Services, a diversified group of companies, which provides a broad suite of services for oil and gas industry, including drilling, construction, and project management, as well as equipment maintenance, procurement, and enhanced oil recovery services. Nobel Oil Services group of companies takes a key role in developing various technology and innovation projects in the region.

SOCAR-AQS currently provides drilling services at 6 rigs on 5 platforms in 4 offshore oil and gas fields in the Caspian, including Shallow Water Gunashli, West Absheron, and Bulla- Deniz. The geography of the services of SOCAR-AQS, which owns the API Spec Q2 Certificate for quality management as the one and only company in the region, covers Turkey and Bangladesh, as well. The company is actively engaged in projects abroad, such as the Expansion of Tuz Golu underground gas storage project in Turkey.

The JV with Halliburton will be the second company SOCAR-AQS establishes jointly with a foreign partner. In 2018, the company established Turan Drilling & Engineering, the joint venture with the British KCA Deutag Group.