BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.31
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
It is planned to drill three exploration wells in total as part of the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) ; one in each Prospective Area namely: North Khali (NKX01) exploration well in North East Prospective Area; Qarabatdag (QBDX01) exploration well in South East Prospective Area; Bibiheybat (BHEX01) exploration well in West Prospective Area, Trend reports citing BP.
“The NKX01 exploration well is located within the North East Prospective Area, approximately 15km from the Azerbaijani mainland in a water depth of approximately 22m. It is proposed to commence drilling of the Project exploration well in Q1 2021. This will be followed by drilling at the second well location (BHEX01) in Q2 2021 and drilling of the third well (QBDX01) is planned to commence in Q4 2021,” the company said in its draft ESIA for the project.
The NKX01 exploration well is planned to target hydrocarbons approximately 2,500m below the seabed surface and drilling activities are expected to take up to 90 days to complete. During this period, assistance to the drilling rig will be provided by support vessels.
Drilling of the exploration well will be carried out, taking into account applicable national and international legal requirements and in accordance with the requirements of the SWAP PSA. The key objective of drilling the exploration well is to confirm the presence of hydrocarbons prior to the potential future development of the Contract Area.
BP signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) with SOCAR in December 2014 to jointly explore for and develop potential prospects in the shallow water area around the Absheron peninsula in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian sea. This PSA was ratified by the Milli Majlis (Parliament of Azerbaijan) on 14 April 2015. This enables BP to move forward with its commitments under this PSA using its experience and advanced technology solutions from other shallow water areas around the world.
Under the PSA BP is the operator with 50 percent interest while SOCAR holds the remaining 50 percent equity.
The PSA contract area stretches along the margins of the Caspian basin to the south of the Absheron peninsula. The acreage features water depths of up to 40 metres with potential reservoir depths of 3000-5000 metres. This will enable BP to bring its experience and advanced technology solutions from other shallow water areas around the world to this area.
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