BAKU. June 5: An Interna tional consortium of oil companies signed a production sharing agreement Tuesday In Baku to develop the Shakh Denizgas field In the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan reports AP

The Shakh-Denlz field holds estimated recoverable reserves of 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas. 200 mil Hon metric tons of gas con densate and 100 million tons of crude oil according to Azerbaijani data

Under the contract signed Tuesday, two exploratory wells will be drilled within three years, the ITAR-Tass news agency said

This is a very good deal." British Industry and Energy Minister Timothy Eggar was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying

British Petroleum PLC and Norway's Slatoil A/S each hold 25.5 per cent interests in the project, while Turkey s TPAO has a 9 per cent stake.

France’s Elf Aquitaine. Russia s Lukoil. Irans stale oil company and Azerbaijan s na-tional company each have 10 per cent.