Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.21
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The first gas from the Absheron gas-condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea will be produced in the fourth quarter of 2021, Total's planning development manager (operator of the field development) Eric Meyer said Nov.20 during the 2nd Azerbaijan and Caspian Sea Oil and Gas Week 2014 conference held in Baku.
He said the final investment decision on the project will be made in the fourth quarter of 2017, and the beginning of the drilling of the first well is expected in the last quarter of 2019.
Meyer said it is planned to complete the preparation of the field development program and submit it to the government of Azerbaijan by the middle of 2015.
The possibilities of processing gas from the field are also being considered now. In particular, partial or complete recycling of gas on a new gas processing plant, which will be built by SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) under the project of creation of the complex on processing of oil and gas and oil production is offered as one of the options, said Meyer.
He said that the various options of the export of gas, which will be produced on the Absheron field, are being discussed.
The discovery of the large Absheron natural gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian was announced in September 2011, following the drilling of an exploration well.
The field's potential reserves amount to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million metric tons of condensate.
The participants of the Absheron project include SOCAR with a share of 40 percent and French company Total with 40 percent and Gaz De France Suez with 20 percent.