The first exploration well located within the deepwater D-222 block (Yalama) of the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea has been abandoned, in accordance with the drilling schedule, the company told Trend.
The well was drilled from a Heydar Aliyev floating drilling rig to its design depth of 4,500 m at sea depths of 332 m. In the course of the zero discharge system based drilling traces of gas were revealed. No commercial reserves of hydrocarbons were discovered.
In the course of the drilling operation, some of the state-of-the-art deepwater drilling techniques were tested, while unique geological data was collected about subsoil structures of the central area of the Caspian Sea, where no exploration drilling was yet conducted.
Simultaneously with the processing of the data received, the D-222 block seismic survey data from year 2004 are being reinterpreted. By this year’s end, on the basis of this analysis a future work plan will be developed for the block.
Exploration, Development and Production Sharing Agreement on D-222 prospective block was entered into on July 03, 1997 by State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and LUKOIL. The agreement with the status of law was ratified by Milly Mejlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan on November 03,
1997.
After geological research, detailed interpretation of seismic materials and geological study of D-222 block, on April 04, 2003 SOCAR and LUKOIL Overseas signed an agreement on contract area expansion to 3037 sq km and increase of LUKOIL Overseas (the project operator) share to 80%.