Azerbaijan, Baku, July 21 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has finished more than 75 percent of the planned exploratory drilling operations at the Umid marine perspective structure in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, SOCAR said July 21.
"Drilling operations have been resumed and the well's depth is now 4,940 meters," the SOCAR source told Trend.
The well's designed depth is 6,500 meters. Drilling will end by late 2010-early 2011.
This is the first exploratory drilling that SOCAR has held independently over the past 15 years. Umid reserves are estimated at 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 30 million tons of condensate.
Drilling is implemented by SOCAR from the Umid-1 Platform. The platform was built on the basis of the unfinished Chirag-6. It is the largest platform within the program, with a height of 72 meters. The platform is located 15 kilometers from the Bulla-Deniz offshore field at a depth of 58 meters.