BP expects to discover oil reserves at SWAP to compensate for a decline in oil production at its major project in Azerbaijan – the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfields, which account for most of the country’s oil output.

The private company will develop the block that includes the Buzovna-Mashtaga, Gala and Zira fields near the capital Baku.

The 200,000-barrel-per-day STAR refinery controlled by SOCAR was launched in 2018. The facility on Turkey’s Aegean coast processed 10.5 million tonnes of oil in 2020.

Crude is processed at the Baku Oil Refinery, which produces 15 different petroleum products, including gasoline, aviation kerosene, diesel fuel, naphta, petroleum coke, and others.

Azerbaijan exports natural gas to Turkey and Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor and continues to make inroads into an energy market which until now has been dominated by Russia.