Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Recoverable reserves of the largest Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz may increase as a result of future stages of its development, Deputy Vice-President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Vitaly Beylerbeyov said at a meeting organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
Beylerbeyov stressed that currently, the reserves of this gas condensate field, which is one of the largest gas and gas condensate fields in the world, are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters, however, these figures may be much higher.
It is expected that the reserves of this field may be increased to anywhere from 1.4 trillion to1.5 trillion cubic meters of gas, according to the deputy vice-president. The field's reserves can be increased through the development of the reservoirs, located in the deeper layers (below the producing formation), according to Beylerbeyov.
The development of these reservoirs, which will be the third stage of development of the Shah Deniz field, currently is a project on which there have already been held discussions within the consortium, Beylerbeyov said.
We discussed how to develop this field further in order to maximize the effect of extraction of reserves of the field, how to achieve large volumes," Beylerbeyov said.
This project will require additional technology, as the reservoirs located below the productive layer stand out with a higher pressure, Beylerbeyov said. The adoption of these technologies that have never been used in the country's oil and gas industry will allow significantly increasing the level of gas extraction.
We are talking about additional volumes of 0.2-0.3 trillion cubic meters, Beylerbeyov said.
Beylerbeyov also stressed that it is planned to increase the production of gas condensate within Shah Deniz field from the current 55,000 bpd to 120,000 bpd.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996.
The agreement's participants include such companies as the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) with a 16.7 percent share, BP (28.8 percent), Norway's Statoil (15.5 percent), Iran's NICO (10 percent), the French Total (10 percent), Russia's Lukoil (10 percent) and Turkish TPAO (9 percent)
Around 9.8 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.48 million tons of condensate (19.6 million barrels) was produced at Shah Deniz field in 2013, compared to 7.73 billion gas and two million tons of condensate in 2012, according to BP's report.
The average daily volume of gas production at the field amounted to 26.8 million cubic meters, while the average daily volume of condensate production was equal to 53,740 barrels.
On December 17, 2013, a final investment decision was made on the second phase of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development. Gas from the field will go first to the European market. The gas to be produced within the second phase of the field's development will be exported to Turkey at six billion cubic meters per year and to European markets at 10 billion cubic meters per year by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by C.N.