Nobel Oil Group

Nobel Oil Group

Industry	Oil and Gas
Founded	Baku, Azerbaijan (2005 (2005))
Headquarters	Baku, Azerbaijan
Number of locations	2- Baku, Azerbaijan and London, England
Area served	Azerbaijan, Romania, UK, USA
Key people	Nasib Hasanov (founder and owner), Ali Batu (CEO)
Services	Technical service provider for the oil industry
Revenue	Undisclosed
Operating income	Undisclosed
Net income	Undisclosed
Owner	Nasib Hasanov
Website	www.nobeloil.com

The Nobel Oil Group is a corporate group operating primarily in the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in Romania. The Group provides integrated operating services within the oil and gas sector and is also developing its exploration and production capabilities.

History and development

Nobel Oil Ltd was originally established in 2005 by Mr. Nasib Hasanov,^[1][2] as a technical service provider, offering services to the oil and gas industry in the Caspian region - including wells’ work over, drilling, installation, construction, engineering and maintenance, repair and operations services.^[3]

Also, Mr. Hasanov is the owner of Nobel Upstream engaged in oil and natural gas projects in Azerbaijan and North America (Texas). In 2016 Nobel Upstream made an investment in the UK North Sea, snapping up a 7.59% stake in the Maclure field from Shell. ^[4]

The holding company Nobel Oil Ltd. is legally registered as an offshore company in St. Kitts and Nevis,^[5] as well as in the United Kingdom.

Since 2008, the Group has been developing its exploration and production capabilities through its participation in the exploration of the Umid offshore gas-condensate field located 75 kilometres south of the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.^[6]

Umid offshore gas-condensate field which is 75 km south of Baku, in the water depth range 40 – 80 m, is being explored under the Agreement between SOCAR and Nobel Oil Exploration and Production Ltd. The Parties have following participating interests in the Umid project: SOCAR – 80%, Nobel Oil Exploration and Production Ltd. – 20%.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan placed enormous hopes on the Umid gas field, remarking in 2010, "This field has a great future",^[7] and making similar comments again in 2012.^[8]

The joint venture with Nobel Oil Group drilled three wells in the Umid gas field since 2012. One well failed, while the other two produced decreasing amounts of natural gas: in 2012 – 1,500 thousand cubic meters of gas, 2013 – 638,000 cubic meters, and in 2014 - 630,000 cubic meters of gas per day. The plan was to drill a total of six wells producing one million to 1.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.^[9]

However, as of October 2014, Nobel Oil Group and its partner decided to stop all drilling due to "technical problems in the production process",^[10] and announced a new international tender for a fresh foreign partner to lead the way and create a new strategy.^[11][12] As of January 2016, the tender has not been materialized. Since March 2015 Nobel Oil Group and its partner decided to drill a new appraisal well to get a better estimate of gas reserves in Umid, and hope that this drilling expense will be absorbed by the future foreign partner.^[13][14] According to the wishes of the Nobel Oil Group and its partner, the new foreign partner must have not only the skills and experience of deep-water offshore drilling, but also have available cash reserves.^[15]

According to expert determinations, the Umid ("Hope") gas field was too technologically challenging for the two companies developing it, despite spending some $5 billion USD already by 2010, and expecting, at the time of high gas prices, about $45 billion in net operating income.^[16] Since 2010 expenses have only increased whilst natural gas market prices have fallen.^[17]

Strategy and future

In early 2013, Nobel Oil conducted a comprehensive strategic review of its business with the help of Bain & Company, with a focus on assessing the company’s organisational capability, strategic goals, operating market and growth options (both regionally and globally).

Services

Nobel Oil has a number of services carried out by different subsidiaries of their company.^[18]

• Absheron Qazma: Provides integrated drilling and well management services. Such services include well design and planning, drilling operations, casing string design, well completion, well workover and more.
• Glensol Nobel: Provides equipment maintenance services, typically to customers in Azerbaijan’s energy industry.
• Oil and Gas Proserve: Provides well intervention and enhanced oil recovery services.
• Prokon: Offers project management services.
• LLamrei: Offers procurement, logistics and warehouse activities.
• Nobel Oil Downstream: Nobel’s retail gasoline service stations in Romania.

References