Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 25 / Trend , E.Ismayilov /
The British company BP, which is the technical operator of project on the development the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, resumed drilling the appraisal well SDX-07a, a source on the oil and gas market told Trend today.
"Currently, the well depth is 4,750 meters, the source said.
The work is currently underway to resolve these problems.
"Istiqlal" drilling rig is used for drilling operations on this well.
The well depth must hit 6,300-6,400 meters as a result of drilling.
Based on the previous BP report on the first half, the completion of drilling of this well was planned for the first quarter of 2012.
Previously, BP began drilling of the SDX-07 well, whose drilling was to be completed by late 2011, but due to problems resulting from the lowering of the casing had been suspended. The column had to be lowered to a depth of 1,100 meters and as a result of its descent was possible only to a depth of 900 meters.
Two offshore platforms will be installed and over 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 24 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.