Azerbaijan, Baku, March 3 / Trend , E. Ismayilov /
BP company, the operator of a project to develop the offshore field Shah Deniz in Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, began drilling a new prodction well on the field, a source on the oil and gas market said today.
"Drilling of the sixth well on the field started and about 250 meters have been already drilled," the source said. Designed depth of new well on the Shah Deniz field is 7000 meters.
The source said that completion of drilling is planned by the end 2010.
Earlier, BP has completed the conservation of one of the five producing wells in the field. If initially it was planned to completely eliminate this well because of its poor condition, later a decision was made to preserve it.
A source said that the reason to make a decision to eliminate the well was connected with the presence of pressure in the area.
In the process of elimination of wells, it became clear that the well can be liquidated partially. About 2,500 meters of the well was eliminated. A decision was made to preserve the remaining 4,000 meters. Since the bottom of the well has been already preserved, it will be possible to restore production from the well through the lateral drilling in future.
The peak production from the field in the first stage of development is projected at 8,6-9 billion cubic meters. According to forecasts, in the second stage of field development, gas production can be brought up to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
Gas produced from Shah Deniz field, is currently transported to Georgia and Turkey.
Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil Hydro - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.