BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.31
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
It is proposed to commence drilling of the NKX01 exploration well at the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) in Q1 2021, and drilling activities are expected to take up to 90 days to complete, with the possibility of a further 30 days to complete sidetrack well, if required, Trend reports citing BP.
The SWAP Contract Area comprises three Prospective Areas. It is planned to drill three SWAP exploration wells in total; one in each Prospective Area namely:
North Khali (NKX01) exploration well in North East Prospective Area;
Qarabatdag (QBDX01) exploration well in South East Prospective Area;
Bibiheybat (BHEX01) exploration well in West Prospective Area;
“The base case assumes that drilling activities will commence in January 2021 however, for contingency, should there be any delay for logistical or operational reasons, and based on prior experience and best estimates, a delay of up to 2 months may occur. The key objective of drilling the exploration well is to confirm the potential presence of hydrocarbon resources at the North East Prospective Area for future field development,” said the company in its draft ESIA for the project.
“The well will be drilled using a jack-up rig, which will be positioned at the well location using three tug vessels. The well will be drilled using drilling muds (using water based mud for the conductor section and non-water based muds for the lower hole sections) with all mud and cuttings recovered to the jackup rig and handled as waste. It is assumed the jack-up rig will be lit at night and operate 24 hours a day over the drilling programme. Preference will be given to source equipment and materials which meet the required Project specifications from Azerbaijan wherever possible. All supplies required during the drilling of the well will be transported from the existing BP Supply Base with drilling fluids provided from the Advanced Fluids Facilities (AFF).”
BP signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) with SOCAR in December 2014 to jointly explore for and develop potential prospects in the shallow water area around the Absheron peninsula in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian sea. This PSA was ratified by the Milli Majlis (Parliament of Azerbaijan) on 14 April 2015. This enables BP to move forward with its commitments under this PSA using its experience and advanced technology solutions from other shallow water areas around the world.
Under the PSA BP is the operator with 50 percent interest while SOCAR holds the remaining 50 percent equity.
The PSA contract area stretches along the margins of the Caspian basin to the south of the Absheron peninsula. The acreage features water depths of up to 40 metres with potential reservoir depths of 3000-5000 metres. This will enable BP to bring its experience and advanced technology solutions from other shallow water areas around the world to this area.
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