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Drilling of exploration well on Absheron structure delays

Oil&Gas Materials 1 October 2010 17:13 (UTC +04:00)
Drilling of an exploration well in the offshore "Absheron" structure of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian will start in the second half of December or early next year, a source in oil and gas market said. Previously the drilling was scheduled for the first half of December.

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.1 / Trend, E. Ismailov /

Drilling of an exploration well in the offshore "Absheron" structure of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian will start in the second half of December or early next year, a source in oil and gas market said. Previously the drilling was scheduled for the first half of December.

Heydar Aliyev installation (operated by Maersk Drilling) will carry out drilling of the exploration well.

The installation is now drilling in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea to drill an exploration well on the Rakushechnoye-sea structure and will be there within three months, drilling of wells on the Absheron structure will begin by late December or early next year, the source said.

According to forecasts of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the reserves of the Absheron structure are estimated at 300 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate.

The Absheron bloc is located about 100 km from Baku at a depth of 500 meters.

Participants in Absheron are the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic - 40 percent, Total - 40 percent and Gaz De France Suez - 20 percent.

The contract on the Absheron field signed Feb. 27, 2009 between SOCAR and Total. Later Total sold 20 percent of its equity participation in the contract to the company Gaz De France Suez.

This is the second attempt of foreign companies to start production of commercially attractive hydrocarbon prospective structure "Absheron". In 1997, the first PSA contract was signed for exploration and development of this area. The contract was signed between SOCAR and U.S. ChevronTexaco. SOCAR has received 50 percent of equity participation, U.S. ChevronTexaco (30 percent - the company was the operator of the project) and TOTAL - 20 percent. But after drilling, reserves were considered commercially unattractive, after which the contract was closed.

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