Azerbaijan SOCAR, French Total to develop Caspian oil field

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and France's Total have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the Absheron oil fields in the Caspian, the SOCAR press service said Friday.

It said the two companies are to harmonize and sign a production-sharing agreement within a year.

"Total's interest in the project to develop the Absheron deposits shows that geological structures that were once considered commercially non-viable have rich hydrocarbon reserves," SOCAR said.