Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The operating company Salyan Oil, which develops the Kursengi and Garabagli onshore fields in Azerbaijan, has no plans to drill new oil wells, a source on the oil and gas market of Azerbaijan told Trend Apr.14.
The source said that the work on drilling of new wells on these fields has not been carried out since 2011.
"The existing wells are being developed by punching," said the source. "Drilling of new wells on onshore fields is costly, and now it is not profitable to begin drilling in terms of low oil prices."
Currently, there are 245 production wells at the field, according to the source. Around 37 were drilled during the period of Salyan Oil operating company's work on the fields. Some 29 of these wells are under operation.
The fields are located in Azerbaijan's Salyan region, 150 kilometers from Baku. The residual oil reserves at the contract area exceed 150 million metric tons, according to a number of experts.
Agreement on the development of Kursengi-Garabagli onshore fields was signed in 1998 for a period of 25 years. The Salyan Oil operating company was created under the contract for carrying out the work. The participants of the project are SOCAR and China National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Corp. (CNODC).
Kursengi and Garabagli fields have been developed since 1960 and 1962 respectively.
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