Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 January / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Presently, the depth of the exploratory well in the prospective Inam field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea constitutes some 2,585 m, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) reported. A 18-inch casing pipe was lowered to the depth of 2,540 m and was cemented.
Previously, BP Azerbaijan (the operator of Inam), due to technical reasons, suspended the drilling of the first stem of the well and began drilling a new one. According to experts, further drilling of the well will be carried out normally.
When drilling the first stem of the well which was launched in mid- November, there occurred a technical obstacle at a depth of 500 m.
"Some 1,000 m of the well had been already drilled, but at the depth of 500 m the casing pipe was unable to go any deeper due to a blockage," a source at the BP Azerbaijan said. For technical security the Istiglal rig was moved 50 m aside and drilling was then resumed. Drilling of the well is scheduled take over 200 days.
The parties involved in the Inam project are the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (50%), BP (25%, operator), the Korean National Oil Corporation (20%) and Shell (5%).