Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 16 / Trend /
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) plans to place "Oil Rocks-2585" four-block platform being under construction on the border between the giant offshore fields "Oil Rocks" and "Guneshli (shallow part), developed by the company , said SOCAR.
The main contractor for construction of the platform is Neftegazstroy trust. Two blocks of the platform with 64-metre height will be built on the Zigh site of Neftegazstroy, and the remaining two blocks - at the Heydar Aliyev Deep Water Jacket Plant.
New platforms are necessary to maintain a stable volume of oil output at the Oil Rocks field, the reserves of which have been developed considerably. The Oil Rocks field is the first field on which Azerbaijan began to produce oil in the sea.
The new platform will be located at a depth of water of 46 meters, 500 meters from five-unit Oil Rocks-1887 platform. Total of 12 wells is scheduled to be built from the new platform.
Drilling new wells is carried out under the Azerbaijani President's orders on increase of the Oil Rocks oil and gas production unit (OGPU) from 812,000 tons of oil up to 1.2 million tons (1.5 times). According to estimates of SOCAR geologists, the residual volume of oil at the Oil Rocks is 30 million tons. SOCAR will drill 78 new wells to increase oil production at the field by late 2010.