BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.29
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The drilling of the first exploration well at the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) is on schedule, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp’s Vice President for the Caspian region, Communications and Advocacy told Trend.
“We will inform about the results. We plan to drill a total of three exploration wells at SWAP,” he said.
The SWAP 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 2,000-5,000 metres.
A 3D seismic acquisition programme was conducted in the contract area by bp in 2016.
As for the D230 block, bp’s VP noted that seismic survey is close to completion there. “Data interpretation is going on. After completing the interpretation, we will decide on where and when to drill the first exploration well.”
BP and SOCAR signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) on 26 April 2018 for the joint exploration and development of Block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
Block D230 lies some 135 kilometres (84 miles) north-east of Baku in the Caspian Sea. It covers an area of some 3,200 square kilometres and has not previously been explored. It has water depths of 400-600 metres and anticipated reservoir depths of about 3,500 metres.Under the PSA, which is for 25 years, BP will be the operator during the exploration phase holding a 50 per cent interest while SOCAR will hold the remaining 50 per cent interest.
Talking about the Azeri Central East platform at Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block, Aslanbayli noted that works on ACE platform are going on smoothly. “Recently, we completed 50 percent of construction works at this platform. The construction is planned to be completed in 2022. The first production is scheduled for 2023.”
Azeri Central East project is the next stage of development of the giant Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) oilfield complex in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
The $6 billion development includes a new offshore platform and facilities designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The project is expected to achieve first production in 2023 and produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime.
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