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Danish operator to launch in summer drilling for BP in Azerbaijani section of Caspian Sea

Oil&Gas Materials 6 December 2011 11:37 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 6 /Trend E.Ismayilov/

The semi-submersible Heydar Aliyev drilling rig will begin operating under the contract signed between the British BP and the Danish Maersk Drilling, an operator of the installation, in the second half of 2012, a source at oil and gas market told Trend.

Earlier, the parties signed a medium-term contract that provides drilling operations in the framework of contracts implemented by BP in Azerbaijan. Most of the work will be on pre-drilling under the second stage of Shah Deniz field development.

The source noted that work for BP, which was originally scheduled to begin in March, will begin later, because of drilling on the Absheron offshore field failed to complete.

"Everything will depend on the term of completion of work in the field Absheron," the source said.

Insufficient number of drilling rig impedes drilling a large number of wells that are provided within the framework of Shah Deniz full field development. So, BP is keen to engage the Heydar Aliyev drilling rig. Under the Shah Deniz full field development two offshore platforms will be installed and 26 underwater wells will be drilled.

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.

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