Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / Drilling work on onshore fields within the framework of the last Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) is expected to take place in 2008, according to a program which was submitted to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) by operating companies developing these fields. SOCAR reported that drilling work will be carried out in the Garachukhur, Binagadi and Pirsaat fields.
At the present time rehabilitation and data processing on the fields are being carried out by these operating companies.
The Garachukhur Production Sharing Agreement on development and rehabilitation was signed in 2004 between SOCAR (25%) and Noble Sky Ltd (75%) and the Chinese Shengli and Middle East Petrol was established
The field, with a length of 5km and width of 2.9km was opened in 1928. Oil reserves of the field are estimated at 41.9mln tons. During the exploitation period 36,200mln tons of oil has been lifted, while remnant reserves comprise 5,645mln tons. At the time of signing the contract, there were 121 exploitation wells on the field, with 45 in operation.
The contract on the Pirsaat onshore field was signed in 2003 by SOCAR (25%), Shengli (50%, an operator) and Middle East Petrol (25%). In compliance with the company's business schedule, it is planned to drill 70 new wells and rehabilitate another 27 on the field. Annual production can be increased to 160,000 tons and over 25 years the total production is expected to comprise 2.8mln tons.
The Binagadi PSA was signed in 2004 between SOCAR (25%) and AZEN company (75%). The Binagadi bloc includes 8 fields: Binagadi, Sulutepe, Masazir, Chakhnaglar, Girmaki, Fatmai, Shabandag and Sianshor. Total geological reserves of the bloc with an area of 4,300h, comprises 132mln tons of oil, while recoverable reserves amount to 12.8mln tons.