Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:
The development project on Azerbaijan's Absheron gas condensate field will be ready by the end of 2016, Eric Mayer, planning development manager at TOTAL Exploration & Production Azerbaijan B.V., told Trend in Baku June 1.
A source on the oil and gas market in April told Trend that the technicality has already been prepared and approved.
According to the source, the commercial aspects are being discussed.
"The companies are close to the final solution," the source said. "Once it is reached, the project will be submitted for approval to the Azerbaijani government."
Mayer said that the negotiations for drilling rig for the Absheron gas field are underway.
In particular, the company is discussing the issue of delivering a new floating drilling rig to Total. A new floating drilling rig is being constructed in the Caspian Sea by SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan).
According to the forecasts, the first gas is expected to be obtained from the Absheron field in late 2021-early 2022.
The final investment decision on the project will be made in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The first well is expected to be drilled in the third quarter of 2019.
The discovery of the Absheron field was announced in September 2011.
According to SOCAR's geologists, the reserves of the Absheron field could amount to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million metric tons of condensate.
Absheron project participants include SOCAR - 40 percent, the French companies Total - 40 percent and Engie - 20 percent.