Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 20
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Drilling operations of the well SDD-04 within the framework of the pre-drilling on the second stage of development of gas condensate field Shah Deniz in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea have started, a source on the oil and gas market of Azerbaijan told Trend.
The operator of the Shah Deniz is British oil company BP.
"Drilling of the well is carried out from the platform Heydar Aliyev," said the source. "The project depth of SDD-04 is about 6,300 meters."
The source went on to add that seven wells have been drilled within the framework of pre-drilling on the project Shah Deniz-2, and the number of wells drilled will reach nine after completion of work on wells SDC-04 and SDD-04.
As part of the implementation of the Shah Deniz projects, the annual gas production volume will increase from 9 billion cubic meters (within the first phase) by additional 16 billion cubic meters in the second phase. Two offshore platforms will be installed and over 20 subsea wells will be drilled to produce additional volumes of gas within Shah Deniz-2 project.
As part of the second stage of the field's development, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's reserve is estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The shareholders are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Statoil (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NICO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).
The volume of gas produced at Shah Deniz field stood at 9.9 billion cubic meters in 2014, while the volume of condensate production at this field totaled 2.3 million metric tons (18.7 million barrels), compared to 9.8 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.48 million metric tons of condensate (19.6 million barrels) in 2013.
Edited by CN
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
