Azerbaijan, Baku, June 20 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
BP, the technical operator for development of the gas condensate field Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, will complete the advanced drilling of the SDX-07 well within the large-scale development of the field during six months, a source in the oil and gas market said.
The source said that the drilling operations are being held normally.
"At present, the well depth is 1,200 meters," he said. "The volume of the operations will take a half of the year."
The source said that the well depth must hit 6,300-6,400 meters as a result of drilling.
BP previously began drilling the SDX-07 well, but operations were suspended due to problems of lifting the casing pipe.
Two offshore platforms will be installed and 30 underwater wells will be drilled to extract additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year within the Shah Deniz -2 project.
Peak production is forecasted 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.
The Shah Deniz field's gas reserves are estimated at 1.2 billion cubic meters, while condensate - 240 million tons.
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 - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.