Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.9 /Trend E.Ismayilov/
The certification process of BOP of Azerbaijani floating drilling unit Istiglal in the Caspian Sea will be completed by the end of October, according the source at oil and gas market told Trend on Thursday.
Accordingly, it will be possible to drill from Istiglal at gas condensate field Shah Deniz using BOP in November.
"Currently, the BOP is certified in the UK. This process must be completed by the end of October," the source said.
The floating drilling rig Istiglal will be used in the drilling of shallow wells in the Shah Deniz field before the arriving of the BOP.
Two offshore platforms will be installed and more than 20 subsea wells will be drilled for the production of an additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year under the Shah Deniz-2. Peak production from the field in the first stage of development is projected at nine billion cubic meters. It is predicted that gas production can be brought up to 24 billion cubic meters a year in the second stage of field development.
Gas reserves of Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
The contractor to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996.
Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 per cent, Statoil - 25.5 per cent, NICO - 10 per cent, Total - 10 per cent, LukAgip - 10 per cent, TPAO - nine per cent and SOCAR-10 per cent.