Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 12 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
British company BP, which is the technical operator of the development of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, and the Danish Maersk Drilling will reach an agreement in March to attract semi-submersible drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev to a project of large-scale development of this field, a source in oil and gas market said today.
At present, BP is in talks with Maersk Drilling over the issue, the source said. A final agreement can be reached by mid-March until the signing of the relevant contract.
BP has a great interest in attracting a drilling rig in operations in 2012.
As another source said earlier BP may attract a drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev to work within a large-scale development of this field, because the "Istiglal" rig is not enough to drill a large number of wells.
Within full-scale development of the Shah Deniz field, two offshore platforms will be installed and 30 underwater wells will be drilled
The peak production is forecast at over 8.6-9 billion cubic meters. It is planned that in the second stage of field development, gas production can be brought up to 25 billion cubic meters a year.
Shah Deniz reserves are estimated to the amount of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil Hydro - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.
