Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Azerbaijan's "Istiglal" floating drilling rig which is currently used for work on Shah Deniz gas-condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea should be undergoing a scheduled maintenance.
Previously, the floating drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev held a scheduled maintenance and now it works together with Istiglal in the Shah Deniz field, a source in the oil and gas market told Trend.
Presently, intensive work is carried on advanced drilling in the second stage of Shah Deniz development.
"Istiglal is still working in the field, but it should undergo a scheduled maintenance, just like the rig named after Heydar Aliyev. It's necessary, however the timeframe for the repair works is not yet set," the source said.
Drilling operator will be Caspian Drilling Company (92,44 percent of CDC shares is owned by the Azerbaijani State Oil Company)
Two offshore platforms will be installed and more than 20 subsea wells will be drilled for the production of an additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year under the Shah Deniz-2.
It is predicted that gas production can be brought up to 24 billion cubic meters a year in the second stage of field development.
Gas reserves of Shah Deniz field are estimated to be 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
The contract for the development of the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. The reserves at Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 28.8 percent, Statoil - 15.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent and SOCAR - 16.7 percent.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by: SI
...
