BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 27
By Anastasia Savchenko - Trend:
After appraisal drilling at the Karabakh field, the Dede Gorgud semi-submersible floating drilling rig will be sent to the prospective Aypara structure, where it will be drilling an appraisal well for two months, Ibrahim Ahmadov, deputy head of the Public Relations and Event Management Department of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, told Trend.
Ahmadov reminded that recently, Dede Gorgud semi-submersible floating drilling rig has been delivered to the Karabakh field, where appraisal drilling will last about two months.
“The purpose is to identify the potential of the field, as well as the volume of oil and gas,” Ahmadov said.
Ahmadov added that the Karabakh field, based on preliminary data, may have more oil reserves than gas.
“A platform can be installed at the field for both oil and gas extraction,” the deputy head said. “By 2021, it is planned to extract the corresponding products using this platform.”
Regarding the development of other promising fields, Ahmadov noted that seismic surveys have been carried out in the last months of this year in the territory of the Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) block of fields.
“Since the Ashrafi and Dan Ulduzu fields are closer to the Karabakh field and Aypara is located a little farther, a separate approach is required to this structure,” the SOCAR representative added.
Ahmadov said that 2D and 3D drilling has been carried out, the work is nearing a wrap up, and data collection and interpretation will begin in the coming months.
On March 13, Azerbaijan’s Caspian Drilling Company Ltd. (CDC) and Norwegian Equinor Azerbaijan Karabakh BV (Equinor) signed a contract for the drilling services at Karabakh field of Azerbaijan.
In accordance with the contract, CDC will drill for Equinor two wells on the Karabakh oilfield, where Equinor serves as project Operator for Karabakh field development with participation of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. Equinor and SOCAR each holds 50 percent stake in the project.
Karabakh was discovered as an prospective offshore structure as a result of seismic survey in 1959. Its oil and gas bearing capacity was approved as a result of exploration drilling in 1997-1998. The field is located in 120 kilometers to the East from Baku at a sea depth of 150-200 meters.
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