Azerbaijan, Baku, April 26 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
In late April BP, which is the technical operator for development of the gas condensate field Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, will start drilling of a new SDX-07a well within advanced drilling in the field, a source in oil and gas market said.
BP previously began drilling the SDX-07 well, but operations were suspended due to problems of lifting the casing pipe. The pipe was to be lowered to a depth of 1,100 meters, but could only descend to a depth of 900 meters.
"At present, work is underway on liquidation of SDX-07. By late this month it is planned to start drilling of a new well," the source said.
The drilling of SDX-07 well was conducted from the Istiglal rig. The process was planned to end by late 2011.
Two offshore platforms will be installed and 30 underwater wells will be drilled to extract additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year within the Shah Deniz -2 project.
Peak production is forecasted 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.
The Shah Deniz field's gas reserves are estimated at 1.2 billion cubic meters, while condensate - 240 million tons.
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 - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.