Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 18
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Five wells have been drilled in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea as part of the advance boring within Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field's development, according to a report from BP.
The report covered BP's works in Azerbaijan in the first-half of 2014.
BP is the operator of the development project of second phase of Shah Deniz.
Currently, the wells are drilled at the field from two drilling rigs - the 'Heydar Aliyev' and 'Istiglal'.
Drilling of the SDD02 well from the 'Heydar Aliyev' rig is currently underway. The well's drilling is scheduled to be completed in late third quarter 2014.
SDC04 well's drilling from the 'Istiglal' rig started in the second quarter.
"Drilling operations on this well are expected to be completed by January 2015," BP said in its report.
Within the framework of the Shah Deniz project, the annual gas production will increase from 9 billion cubic meters (in the first phase) to an additional 16 billion cubic meters (in the second phase).
Two offshore platforms will be installed and over 20 subsea wells will be drilled for production of an additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year under the Shah Deniz-2 project.
The gas to be produced within Stage 2 of the field's development will be exported to Turkey and the European markets by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Shah Deniz's reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. A contract was signed on June 4, 1996 to develop the Shah Deniz offshore field.
The shares are distributed among the agreement participants as follows: BP (operator) - 28.8 percent, Statoil - 15.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, and SOCAR - 16.7 percent.
Previously, Total sold its share in the project to the Turkish TPAO and after completion of the deal the latter's share in the project will be 19 percent.
Edited by CN