Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 12 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
SOCAR's First Vice President Khoshbakht Yusifzade stated today that the discovery of huge reserves in the Umid field in 2010 and the Absheron field in 2011 showed that Azerbaijan is wealthy in gas reserves.
The field's potential reserves hit 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million ton of condensate. Accordingly, Azerbaijan's proven gas reserves rose to 2.55 trillion cubic meters, he said.
If Total, one of the participants in the contract and currently operating in the field, will wait for a new rig to drill a second exploration well, then gas production will be possible as early as 2021-2022, Yusifzade said.
However, the company intends to drill a sidetrack from the first exploration well at a depth of 4,000 meters. If drilling yields positive results, then Total can immediately establish a stationary platform that would accelerate the process of gas production from the field by 5-6 years, Yusifzade said.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev briefed about the discovery of large gas reserves on the Absheron field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea on Friday.
According to Total, which is one of the participants of the contract in exploration and development of the Absheron field, gas reserves in the field are estimated at several trillion cubic feet of gas and condensate, according to initial assessments.
Participants in Absheron are SOCAR (40 percent), Total (40 percent), and Gaz De France Suez (20 percent).
The contract on the Absheron Field was signed on Feb. 27, 2009, between SOCAR and Total. Later Total sold 20 percent of its equity participation to Gaz De France Suez.
The first exploration well is being drilled from the Heydar Aliyev drilling rig, operated by the Danish Maersk Drilling Company.