Khoshbakht Yusifzade, the First Vice President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) informed Trend that gas leakage has been found in the first well on Shah Deniz Gas field in the depth of 800-900m, where production was ceased due to technical reasons.
One of the options for the resolution of the problem can be pumping of a special mixture, which will block the gas leakage, he said.
Mr. Yusifzade said that in case there is no difficulty with the replacement of the drilling rig, it will be commissioned through connecting to the second pre-drilling well.
BP Azerbaijan will put into operation the second pre-drilling well on Shah Deniz offshore gas field next year
Gas production on the first well was launched on December 15. The daily production rate of the well is 5.6mln. cu m. At the same time, gas condensate is produced from the field at the volume of 2,500 tons per day.
A total of 8.6bln cu m of gas is expected to be produced on the plateau stage under Stage 1 of Shah Daniz Field Development. 5.4-5.6bln cu m of gas will be produced from the field in 2007.