Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Aliyev / The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has concluded overhauling its drilling rig Absheron. Currently, it is involved in drilling an exploration well with a project depth of 800 meters at the new points.
Two appraisal wells are expected to be drilled by the Absheron Rig. The drilling point for one of the appraisal wells to be drilled has already been selected. The future appraisal well will be located 1.5 km apart.
Earlier SOCAR completed drilling of two wells on this platform, with a design depth of more than 800 meters. In addition, drilling of exploitation wells completed with the drilling rig Khazar-4. These wells are considered to be advanced. After completing their drilling, they will be conserved for the next production from the platform. The first platform will be established for connecting three drilled gas wells which were drilled and conserved. The approximate withdrawal from the well is 250,000 cu.m a day. This will enable a new method of production, gas lifting, as well as gas for domestic demand. This is the primary task.
It is planned to construct platforms for the exploitation of wells with this semi-submersible drilling rig Khazar-4. The rig will drill 12 wells instead of 6, as planned earlier, due to the great reserves and capacity of the stratums. The average daily withdrawal is approximately 10 tons a day. Earlier, Khazar-4 rig drilled 6 wells on one of the points in the field. The appraisal of fields revealed over 10mln tons of oil. The re-appraisal of reserves was carried out after the drilling.
Six wells on one of the points on the field have already drilled from "Khazar-4". A platform is expected to be installed there as well. According to SOCAR, once the programme is adopted, a decision on the order of installing the platforms will be made. However, even today it is evident that the first platform will be considered for gas holes. The construction of this platform has already been launched. It is expected to be installed in the first quarter of 2008. The platform will be installed at a depth of 12-15 m. The same is planned for 2009.
The appraisal of the field's reserves has showed that it may have over 10 mln tons. This re-appraisal was conducted after carrying out exploratory drilling which was previously considered at 5 mln tons.