Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 19 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will start drilling a new well at a major gas condensate field Umid in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea next year, a source in SOCAR told Trend.
According to the source, this comes as the third well, which SOCAR will drill on the field after its opening.
"It is difficult to speak about the exact date of the commencement of operations, but they will begin after completion of drilling the second exploration well," the source said.
Drilling the second well is scheduled to complete during the first quarter of 2012.
The project depth of the third well will be the same as the depth of the second - 6,500 meters, the source said.
According to SOCAR specialists, the results of drilling of the first exploratory well suggest the volume of reserves exceeds 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 40 million tons of condensate.
Umid is located in 75 kilometers of Baku, 40 miles from the coast. Geophysical work was for the first time held here in 1953. The work here was re-implemented in 1972. Then nine wells were drilled from 1977 to 1992, neither of which produced results.