Azerbaijan, Baku, November 4 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
SOCAR (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) is to build a new platform at the Bulla-Deniz field in the zone of the old one where an accident occurred earlier due to fire, the First Vice-President of SOCAR, Khoshbakht Yusifzade told journalists on Monday.
"No other well will be drilled there. The drilling will be carried out from a new platform located nearby," he stressed.
According to him, the drilling of new wells from the old platform is not envisaged, but considering the block reserves at the field where the well showed a very large debit, a new platform will be built. The reserves of the new block where a high result was achieved are estimated to stand at 10 billion cubic meters of gas.
Regarding the well rescued after the accident, Yusifzade noted that it is already in operation and its daily debit is 1.2-1.3 million cubic meters of gas and 200 tons of condensate.
Fire engulfed exploration well No.90 in the north-east wing of Bulla-Deniz on August 17. The depth of the sea at the field is 26.5 metres.
According to SOCAR, ignition happened during drilling at a depth of 5868 metres.
An open gas blowout took place at 23:30 local time, August 17, which was followed by fire.
All 62 workers who were at the platform were evacuated to the shore and there were no casualties.