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Perspective oil & gas structures in Azerbaijan: 2022 review

Oil&Gas Materials 28 December 2022 16:21 (UTC +04:00)
Laman Zeynalova
Laman Zeynalova
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.28. Trend presents 2022 digest of perspective oil and gas structures in Azerbaijan.

Shafag-Asiman

A 30-year contract on Shafag-Asiman was signed in October 2010. The forecasted 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 south-east of Baku. It is located at a depth of 650-800 meters with the depth of the reservoir at 7,000 meters.

Project status

The drilling of the SAX01 exploration well was completed in March 2021 with a total depth of 7,189 meters at the base of the Fasila unit. The well encountered gas condensate resource in some of the penetrated reservoirs. The post-well analysis of the data received during the drilling is currently ongoing and includes reprocessing of the original seismic data, to be followed by interpretation of the results. This work is required to evaluate the hydrocarbon resource and plan the next stage of exploration activities.

Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP)

SOCAR and bp signed a PSA-contract on joint exploration at the potentially promising structures located in the shallow waters of the Absheron Peninsula on Dec. 22, 2014.

This agreement is part of the government's plan to fully explore all the coastal areas of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The area of water, covered by the PSA agreement between SOCAR and BP to carry out the development and exploration work in the shallow waters of the Absheron Peninsula, extends along the southern part of the Peninsula. The area reaches 1,900 square kilometers.

The sea depth is up to 40 meters in this territory, but the depth of the potentially productive strata is 3,000-5,000 meters.

Project status

In April 2022, bp announced commencement of the third exploration well drilling for the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula area.

The third exploration well -QBDX01 - was safely plugged and permanently abandoned in May 2022. The well, which was drilled in the South-East Prospective Area of the SWAP contract area, did not encounter economic hydrocarbons. The previous two wells drilled in the North-East (plugged and abandoned in December 2021) and West (plugged and abandoned in March 2022) Prospective Areas within the SWAP contract area had similar results. The QBDX01 exploration well represented the final phase of the planned activity within the SWAP exploration drilling program, which is now completed.

bp announced in July 2022 that its ending of exploration work on a block of prospective oil and gas fields in Azerbaijani area of Caspian Sea and the withdrawal from the project.

Block D230

In May 2016, BP and SOCAR signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore potential prospects in the block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

The MOU gives BP the exclusive right to negotiate an agreement with SOCAR to explore and develop the D230 Block.

The block covers areas in a water depth of up to 300 meters with the reservoir depth of 3,000-5,000 meters.

Project status

On Block D230, the interpretation of the seismic data is currently ongoing. If the results from the interpretation of the seismic survey are positive, bp will consider further exploration activities.

Absheron

Absheron project participants include SOCAR - 50 percent and France’s Total - 50 percent.

Engie, which previously owned a 20-percent stake, left the project in June 2017.

A contract on the Absheron field was signed Feb. 27, 2009 between SOCAR and Total.

JOCAP is the Joint Operating company of the Absheron field on behalf of Contractor Parties SOCAR Absheron and TOTAL E&P Absheron BV.

Project status

“Absheron” stage 1 will produce 1.5 billion cubic meters.

In February 2022, JOCAP, the Joint Operating company of the Absheron field on behalf of Contractor Parties SOCAR Absheron and TOTAL E&P Absheron BV, said that topside modules fabrication EPS Platform at Absheron gas field in Azerbaijan is going as per contractor schedule and the majority of the scope of work has been already completed. The company said this fabrication remains critical for the overall schedule of the project and under very close monitoring. As for hydro tests, JOCAP said these are part of the pre-commissioning activities. “We already achieved significant progress and we are in line with objectives to complete them before the load out of modules,” the company said.

The last equipment (filtration unit) was delivered to the Baku Deep Water Jacket yard for the Absheron gas field and is already under integration within the modules. Works going on at the Baku Deep Water Jacket yard include: integration of equipment inside electrical and instrument rooms part of Technical Building, fabrication of concrete slabs for the Bridge road, fabrication of interface structure / transition piece between Oil Rocks and new EPS Bridge, fabrication of outstanding Mini-Jackets , bridge sections & Vent Tower, continuation of Topside Modules fabrication. Regarding the offshore campaign for the umbilical laying, the company said indeed, the umbilical has been satisfactory laid on the sea bed last year, and the final survey is on its way.

TotalEnergies said it is considering the possibility of future expansion of the EPS platform for the Absheron gas field development project.

In June 2022, JOCAP said subsea umbilical has been completely surveyed and secured as part of the Absheron gas field development project.

In August 2022, "Azerbaijan" crane ship of Azerbaijan Caspian Sea Shipping (ASCO) has been deployed for Absheron field development project in the country. The vessel with a capacity of 2,500 tons was involved in the operations of transporting topsides for Absheron Early Production Platform Complex to the Absheron field and installing them on the support block. For this purpose, two of the three superstructures, AMO-2 and AMO-1 modules manufactured at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deep Water Jacket Factory were installed on barges with the help of the crane ship. The AMO-3 module was loaded on the deck of the "Azerbaijan" crane ship.

JOCAP completed the offshore installation of Absheron EPS modules. Three modules of the future Absheron platform were constructed onshore at the BOS Shelf yard; from where they were lifted onto the transportation barges by the DBA (Azerbaijan crane vessel). The three modules were successfully installed offshore on September 17 onto the jacket where they will need to be connected the existing Azneft PU facilities at the Oil Rocks.

Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA)

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.

Project status

Seismic surveys carried out at the ADUA area give grounds to assume that the field is likely to have commercial oil and gas reserves.

Karabagh field

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.

Since 1994, SOCAR and Equinor have been cooperating in important joint projects, including the operating of the Azeri Chirag and Deep Water Gunashli (ACG) oil field.

Project status

Norway’s Equinor and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR are evaluating possible development solution for Karabagh project. Equinor continues to work with SOCAR to progress and mature the Karabagh project, and this includes joint evaluations of a possible development solution.

Dostlug field

On January 21, 2021, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed a memorandum on joint development of the Dostlug field in the Caspian Sea. Dostlug is a new name of the field that is located on the border of Azerbaijani and Turkmen sectors of the Caspian Sea. It was known as Kepez in Azerbaijan and Sardar in Turkmenistan. The negotiations on the joint development of the field were held before.

It is an oil and gas field and SOCAR supposes that its reserves can be approved by carrying out modern methods of seismic exploration and probably, exploratory drilling. It is necessary to outline many technical and commercial issues related to the future development of this field. The memorandum is the first step towards reaching this goal.

Project status

In late January, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan held the fourth meeting of the Joint Working Group on Dostlug field. The Joint Working Group was established to prepare and verify a draft Intergovernmental Agreement regulating cooperation between the parties on joint development and exploration of the hydrocarbon resources of the Dostlug field in the Caspian Sea. It was decided to hold the next Joint Expert Group meeting within the framework of the Working Group in the near future.

An Expert Group was established under the Working Group to prepare a draft agreement and other project documents. Discussions are underway within the Expert Group to prepare these documents.

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