Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.30
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
British BP will complete the drilling of the 7th production well within the framework of the first stage of Shah Deniz gas condensate field development in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea till the end of 2015.
BP is the technical operator of the development of the field, the oil and gas market of Azerbaijan told Trend Oct.30.
Currently, the depth of the well exceeds 2,000 meters of the designed over 6,000 meters, the interlocutor of the agency said.
"Drilling of SDA-007 well is conducted at the platform on the field," said the source. "It is expected that its drilling will be completed by the end of 2015."
Currently, there are 6 wells on the platform at the Shah Deniz field.
The total costs of the Shah Deniz-1 project so far amounted to $11.4 billion, the regional president of BP for Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia Gordon Birrell said earlier.
The Shah Deniz field produced 7.25 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.7 million metric tons of condensate for the first 9 months of 2014. Gas production volumes will exceed 9 billion cubic meters while condensate production will exceed the projected 2.6 million metric tons, according to forecasts for the end of 2014.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field, which has proven reserve of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, was signed on June 4, 1996.
In 2013, Shah Deniz produced 9.8 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.48 million metric tons of condensate (19.6 million barrels) against 7.73 billion cubic meters of gas and 2 million metric tons of condensate in 2012.
The shareholders are: 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). These percentages include the recent purchases of equity from Statoil by BP and SOCAR.
Earlier, Total has entered into an agreement to sell its interest in Shah Deniz to TPAO. After the transaction is over, the share of the latter in the project will be 19 percent.
Moreover, Norway's Statoil has sold its 15.5-percent share in the Shah Deniz project, to the Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas. The transaction is expected to close early 2015.