Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 4 / Trend, I. Ismayilov /
BP, operating as the technical operator of field development, will complete drilling two wells in the first half of this year as part of implementing the second phase of developing the Azerbaijani offshore gas condensate field Shah Deniz, a source on the oil and gas market told Trend today.
A source added that at present, work is underway to drill appraisal well SDX-07a. Previously, SDX-07a was closed down temporarily at a depth of 4,940 meters. The cause was the process of certifying a block of units of a semi-submersible drilling rig "Istiqlal" in Great Britain. Drilling operations were conducted from that rig.
"At present, the drilling operations are underway and its depth is 5,650 of 6,200 meters of the project," the source said.
The source added that the drilling operations are being conducted by the Heydar Aliyev drilling rig, operated by the Danish Maersk Drilling company.
The operations on drilling another well are also underway. The well is being drilled by "Istiqlal" rig.
"The well bottom is 2,360 meters," the source said.
Two offshore platforms and 20 subsea wells will be installed for the production of an additional 16 billion cubic metres of gas under the Shah Deniz-2 project. Peak production is projected at nine billion cubic metres in the first stage of development. According to forecasts, gas production can be increased up to 24 billion cubic metres a year in the second stage of development.
Reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas.
The contract 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.