Azerbaijan, Baku, June 30 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
Drilling operations of the first exploration well on the Absheron prospective structure in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea will be completed in late November, a source on the oil and gas market said. Earlier, the drilling operations were to be completed in September-October this year.
"The process is planned to be fully completed in November," the source said.
The depth of wells will be 7,100-7,200 meters. The bloc's structure is characterized by high pressure, he 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.
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.