Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The French company Total will not build underwater gas compressor station at the Absheron gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, Eric Meyer, planning development manager at TOTAL Exploration & Production Azerbaijan B.V. told Trend in Baku Nov. 5.
He said that the program of development of the field provides for construction of a gas compressor station only on the coast.
"We plan to build a compressor station on the coast in the vicinity of the Sangachal Terminal," said Meyer. "From here, gas will be distributed via the internal grid or go [to the South Caucasus Pipeline] for export. The gas pressure is quite high here. The wells will be connected to the platform by 20 kilometer pipes. On the platform, the gas will pass through the separator and from there will be sent to the 22-inch pipe with a length of 119 kilometers to the terminal located on the shore. Therefore, building an underwater gas compressor station is not necessary."
The company plans to build its own terminal in Sangachal settlement of Baku seven kilometers away from the shore. The gas will be collected and processed in the terminal, and from the terminal, it will flow into the local area network for the domestic consumption and in the South Caucasus Pipeline for export.
Also it is planned to build a pipeline from the terminal, which will connect the terminal to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, via which the condensate will be exported.
Meyer went on to add that participation in the development of the Absheron field confirms intentions of Total to strengthen ties and cooperation with Azerbaijan in oil and gas production in the long term.
He also said that spud of the first well is expected in 2017, the final investment decision - by fourth quarter of 2017.
Spud of development on the well is expected by the third quarter of 2019, while the first gas is expected there by late 2021-early 2022, he said.
The discovery of Absheron field was announced in September 2011. A decision was made to drill an offshoot of the first exploration well to specify the data.
According to SOCAR geologists, the reserves of Absheron could amount to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million metric tons of condensate.
Absheron project participants include SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) - 40 percent, the French companies Total - 40 percent and Gaz De France Suez - 20 percent.
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