Foreign JV upstream activity surges in Azerbaijan. (joint venture)

Foreign joint venture activity is humming in Azerbaijan's upstream petroleum sector.

State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) and McDermott International Inc., New Orleans, disclosed further details of agreements signed last month in Baku for joint ventures to pursue marine and on-shore construction and shipyard work in the Caspian Sea region. Socar and McDermott Azerbaijan Marine Construction Inc. (MAMC) have established two ventures, MacShelf, which will perform turnkey engineering, procurement, and marine and on-shore construction, and MacDock, which will repair, upgrade, and maintain vessels and drilling figs.

In other action involving Azeri joint ventures:

* Socar and a unit of Ponder Industries Inc., Alice, Tex., disclosed an agreement that could lead to workovers of more than 2,000 onshore and offshore Socar operated wells.

* Socar and Hallwood Caspian Petroleum LLC, a jointly owned subsidiary of Hallwood Energy Partners …