BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr.20
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR wants to adopt the final decision on the technical details of Karabagh field’s development as soon as possible, Ibrahim Ahmadov, deputy head of the public relations and events department at SOCAR, told Trend.
“SOCAR and Norway’s Equinor have set up a working group of specialists, which regularly holds consultations and carries out joint work,” he said.
As for the Sharafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) structure, Ahmadov noted that the results of the seismic survey are being evaluated by Equinor specialists.
“We will make them public after we approve them and present to the company’s leadership,” he added.
The Karabagh prospective structure was identified in 1959 as a result of seismic surveys. It was specified in 1984 and its oil and gas reserves were confirmed in 1997-1998 through exploration drilling. The oilfield is located 120 km east of Baku, at a depth of 150-200 meters in the open sea.
The consortium operated by Caspian International Petroleum Company (CIPCO) drilled three exploration wells in the Karabagh PSA signed in 1995: two wells found gas in the southeast portion of the structure and the third well indicated presence of oil in the western part of the structure. In 1999, the PSA was terminated due to the non-commercial discovery.
In May 2018, SOCAR Karabagh and Equinor signed a Risk Service Agreement related to development of Karabagh Oil Field in the Azerbaijan Sector of Caspian Sea. According to the agreement, they hold equal shares.
Exploration work at ADUA commenced in the second half of 2018 and 2D and 3D seismic exploration was completed in 2019. The results were processed in 2020 and currently, their interpretation is ongoing.
The ADUA exploration area is located around 50 kilometers east of Baku, around 14 kilometers to the east of Azerbaijani mainland (Absheron peninsula), and approximately 7 kilometers to the east of Azerbaijan’s Pirallahi and Chilov islands, in water depth varying between 20 and 225 meters.
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Statoil Azerbaijan (part of the Equinor group) signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for the Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) exploration area on May 30, 2018.
In May 2020 Equinor decided to postpone the drilling of the Aypara prospect due to challenges in operating during the current COVID-19 context.
Equinor believes that the decision to postpone the drilling will provide more time to interpret the seismic data acquired in the Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara license during 2019 and evaluate prospectively in the license.
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