Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.8
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The success of the project of Absheron gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea may facilitate the participation of the French company in other offshore production projects in Azerbaijan, the head of Total E&P Azerbaijan Denis Lemarchal said in an interview with The Business Year magazine.
"The operation in Azerbaijan is limited for the time being; however, the Absheron prospects are very good," Lemarchal said. "It is a major project with a significant investment. If we succeed in creating a good development plan that will be approved by SOCAR for Absheron, then the logic will be to continue with other phases of Absheron and with other offshore developments."
The discovery of the large Absheron natural gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian was announced in September 2011, following the drilling of an exploration well.
The field's potential reserves amount to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million metric tons of condensate.
The participants of the Absheron project include SOCAR with a share of 40 percent and French company Total with 40 percent and Gaz De France Suez with 20 percent.
"Our main activity for 2014 has been preparing the development program to be submitted to SOCAR by mid-2015," said Lemarchal.
"We have several axis," he said, speaking about the goal to start gas extraction on "Absheron" in 2021 and the main work connected with this. "One is drilling rig development, as there is a shortage of rigs here. SOCAR realized that some time ago and decided to construct a new rig, which should be available in early 2017. One way to accelerate drilling would be to use this rig because it would avoid having to wait for the second rig, which the construction on is not decided yet."
The work for construction of a new modern drilling rig for SOCAR started in 2013. The new rig is designed for drilling wells at a depth of up to 8,000 meters and at a water depth of 1,000 meters. The cost of the project for construction of a new modern drilling rig is $1.117 billion.
"There is another possibility of accelerating the schedule of our project by using the oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex (OGPC) facilities," Lemarchal said.
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) and French Total are negotiating the opportunities of gas processing from Absheron field at the gas processing plant, SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier. This plant will be built in Azerbaijan as part of a new oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex.
He said that in this case, several variants of cooperation are being considered. These variants include the possibility of purchasing gas from Total at market prices and its processing at the plant for its using on the domestic market or its refining at the plant for Total for further exports.
"The objective is to become an important player in oil and gas operations in Azerbaijan," said Lemarchal. "We have Absheron, and hopefully we will have other opportunities in the future to move in this direction."
According to forecasts, the first volume of gas from the Absheron gas and condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea will be received in Q4, 2021.
A final investment decision on the project will be made in Q4, 2017 and the beginning of the drilling of the first well is expected in the last quarter of 2019.
Edited by CN
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