Azerbaijan, Baku, April 18 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
A project will be launched to develop deep-bed gas on the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) fields in the Azerbaiani sector of the Caspian Sea by 2017, Vice President of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Khoshbakht Yusifzade said at the V Caspian Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference on Monday.
Based on the project, a relevant project will be initially carried out on the Chirag and Guneshli fiels, and then on the Azeri field.
Projected volumes of deep-bed gas are around 200-250 billion cubic meters, Yusifzade said.
Azerbaijan's gas production has increased by 5.2 times since 2004 from 5 billion cubic meters to 26 billion cubic meters in 2010.
Azerbaijan is expected to bring gas production up to 30 billion cubic meters per year by 2015. Azerbaijan's total proved oil and gas reserves are estimated at 2.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 2 billion tons of oil. Projected figures make up 6 billion tons of standard fuel.
The ACG field's reserves are estimated at 925 million tons of oil and 280 billion cubic meters of gas.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 37. 4%), Chevron (11.3%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (11%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.7%), ITOCHU (4.3%), Hess (2.7%).