Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.28 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
British company BP, which is the technical operator of the development of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, may attract a drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev to work within a large-scale development of this field, a source in oil and gas market said. Operator of the drilling rig is Maersk Drilling.
He said the rig can be involved in the works at the field in 2012.
At present, the rig is on the point of drilling at the prospective structure "Absheron" in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Exploratory drilling will likely begin in January. According to the source, the drilling process at the "Absheron" structure may take about a year. The source grounded it by the fact that the structure is located on enough large depth, which requires carefulness in carrying out drilling operations.
The source said, therefore, mostly the installation will be engaged in exploratory drilling at the "Absheron" structure next year.
But in 2012 BP may attract the unit to works on the Shah Deniz field. The source justified it by the necessity of presence of the second drilling rig in addition to the "Istiglal" rig, as within large-scale development of the field it is envisaged to drill a large number of wells.
Within full-scale development of the Shah Deniz field, two offshore platforms will be installed and 30 underwater wells will be drilled
The peak production is forecast at over 8.6-9 billion cubic meters. It is planned that in the second stage of field development, gas production can be brought up to 25 billion cubic meters a year.
Shah Deniz reserves are estimated to the amount of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed 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.