Azerbaijan, Baku, June 6 / Trend E. Ismailov /
Over the entire period of hydrocarbon production, 665 billion cubic meters of gas was produced in Azerbaijan, the first vice-president of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh said on Thursday during the Caspian Oil and Gas 2013 conference.
According to him, 1.8 billion tons of oil has been produced in the country for the entire period.
An analysis of the oil and gas production situation in the world shows that the period of easy production of oil is coming to an end.
The SOCAR vice-president believes that the oil reserves are not dwindling, but oil just lies deep and this requires further technological development.
"Alongside with accelerating the development of the Umid and Absheron fields in the near future, SOCAR also plans to start the exploratory drilling in the prospective areas of Babak, Zafar, Mashal, Nakhchivan, Shafaq, Asiman and others by attracting foreign companies. According to expectations, gas-condensate fields will be discovered on these structures," Yusifzadeh said.
According to him, mainly gas-condensate fields have been discovered as a result exploration works that have been carried in the past few years.
"The probability of the discovery of large deposits in the sediment of reservoir decreases and therefore the attention to the research of Mesozoic sediments that lie deeper must be increased," Yusifzadeh said.
The history of the study of Mesozoic sediments covers the period of more than 60 years. Despite the fact that more than 150 wells were drilled in the Mesozoic sediments, there is no clear opinion about the productivity of these deposits.
"But with the gradual dwindling of oil reservoirs in the productive layers, the study of the Paleocene and Mesozoic sediments on land and in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is defined as a priority," the vice-president of SOCAR said.
In particular, work is being carried out on the Goshadash field where an exploration well is being drilled.
"Joint work with ConocoPhillips has been initiated in order to systematise data on Mesozoic sediments, as well as to conduct work on two-dimensional research on land in Azerbaijan" Yusifzadeh said.
He said that in particular two-dimensional seismic work is being initiated on the south-western slopes of the Greater Caucasus. Depending on the results, the issue of carrying out exploration drilling will be considered.