Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 8 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
BP-Azerbaijan intends to drill exploration wells on the Shafag-Asiman fields in the Azerbaijani sector of Caspian Sea in the second half of 2016, under the exploration, development and production sharing agreement signed by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and BP, BP-Azerbaijan Geological Exploration Group Head Arzu Javadova said at the public hearings on the report of the environmental impact of seismic studies on the structure.
"The exploration period can be divided into three stages: first - conduct of a 3D-seismic survey, second - processing and interpretation of the data and third - drilling of exploration wells," Javadova said.
BP-Azerbaijan and Caspian Geophysical signed a contract for carrying out a 3D-seismic data in May.
Javadova said the first phase will be completed in 2011, the data processing is scheduled for 2012 and its interpretation for 2013 - the first half of 2014.
"The process to plan the drilling work and exploration wells will be carried out in the second half of 2014 -the first half of 2016. Accordingly, BP plans to perform the drilling of exploration wells from the second half of 2016 to the second half of 2017," she said.
She said the fields has a number of difficulties, in particular, big depth, high pressure and temperature.
The depth of the producing formations in the block ranges from 5 to 8 kilometers with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.
The projected reserves of Shafag Asiman are 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate.
SOCAR and BP signed the PSA on "Shafag-Asiman" for a period of 30 years. The exploration period is 4 years with possible prolongation for another 3 years. The first stage of exploration works envisions drilling of two wells. The second one assumes drilling of two more wells, if necessary. As the sides go over to the production stage, they will operate the project jointly. The two companies hold equal interests in the project.
The reserves of field Asiman-Shafag are estimated at 300-500 billion cubic meters of gas.
"Shafag" and "Asiman" structures are located 125 kilometers to the south-east of Baku. SOCAR and BP signed a memorandum on "Mutual understanding" on the joint exploration and development of "Shafag" and "Asiman" in London in July 2009.