Socar deputy head Suleiman Gasymov told reporters that the company plans to invest $1.2bn to upgrade its 140,000 barrels per day Heydar Aliyev Baku oil refinery.
The remaining $571m will be used by the firm for drilling the wells in Bulla Deniz and Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Guneshli (ACG) fields.
The ACG field, which is located about 100km east of Baku, is claimed to be the largest oilfield in the Azerbaijan part of the Caspian basin.
The Bulla Deniz gas field is located near the Bulla Island in the Bay of Baku, Caspian Sea.
Trend news agency cited Gasimov as saying: "Contracts have already been signed, there only remains to solve some technical problems.
"Preparation of the documents needed to get the first tranche is being completed.
"We expect that the first tranche, both for modernization of the oil refinery, and for the drilling, will be allocated in the near future."
Upon completion of upgrade work scheduled by the end of 2018, the Aliyev refinery is expected to increase the refining capacity from six million tons to 7.5 million tons.
Separately, the company commenced drilling at two new wells in Pirallahi Adasi guru located onshore Pirallahi Island and at Pirallahi Deniz located offshore the Pirallahi Island.
Image: Socar head office is located on Azneft Square in downtown Baku. Photo: courtesy of Baku87 (talk)/ Baku87 at en.wikipedia.
