Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 8
By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
Drilling is expected to commence at Azerbaijan’s Shafag-Asiman Contract Area in Quarter 4 of 2019, according to BP’s Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (ESIA) of Shafag-Asiman Exploration Drilling Project, Trend reports referring to the document.
It is anticipated that the proposed Project exploration well will be drilled using the Heydar Aliyev Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) operated by Caspian Drilling Company, a subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, the report said.
Today this is the most modern rig in the Caspian Sea, which can conduct drilling operations at big sea depths.
The well will be drilled at the depths of 6,000-7,000 meters, in which gas and condensate reserves are expected to be discovered.
In case of reaching success during exploration work at Shafag-Asiman block, the second Shah Deniz field with big reserves may be discovered there, BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones said earlier.
It is anticipated that the exploration drilling (including well testing) will take approximately 604 days.
A two dimensional (2D) seismic survey within the deeper waters of the Contract Area and the surrounding areas was undertaken between 1995 and 1999 and a three-dimensional (3D) seismic survey within the Shafag-Asiman Contract Area was undertaken in 2012.
BP will have overall responsibility for managing the Project activities and will be monitoring and verifying the implementation of environmental and socio-economic mitigation measures detailed in this ESIA, the report said.
SOCAR and BP signed a contract on the Shafag-Asiman block for a period of 30 years in October 2010. The exploration period is four years with the possibility of extension for three more years. At the first stage, two wells are planned to be drilled. If necessary, two more wells will be drilled at the second stage.
In the operational period the sides will implement joint operatorship within the project. Shared participation in the contract between BP and SOCAR is 50 to 50 percent.
The forecast reserves of the Shafag-Asiman block stand at 500 billion cubic meters of gas and 65 million tons of condensate.
The block is located 125 kilometers to the south-east of Baku. Exploration work has not been conducted on the block yet. It is located at a depth of 650-800 meters with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.
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