It is planned to produce first gas from the Absheron gas condensate field in 2019, First Vice-President of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR Khoshbakht Yusifzade said.
He said that the reserves of the Absheron gas condensate field were estimated at 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate, according to preliminary data.
“At present, in accordance with the PSA (production sharing agreement) contract, the contractor is preparing the field’s development plan”, Yusifzade said. “The following steps are envisaged within the framework of the annual plan for the first gas production: the study of the concept’s feasibility will be completed in September, the partners will approve of the field’s development program at the end of October and it will be submitted to SOCAR in early November, then SOCAR will approve of this program in late January 2017”.
“Final investment decisions regarding the primary production plan will be made in the fourth quarter of 2017”, Yusifzade added. “The first production well will be drilled at the earliest in the third quarter of 2017”.
He noted that discovery of such large gas condensate fields as Absheron and Umid had increased probability of detection of new oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
“The reserves of the Umid field account for 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 40 million tons of condensate, according to preliminary calculations”, Yusifzade said. “Currently, two wells operate in this field, and more than 1 billion cubic meters of gas has been produced at them”.
“The drilling of a new well 6,500 meters deep is also currently underway”, he added. “We pin great hopes on this well, because the work on the installation of four platforms is underway within the framework of the Umid field’s development, and 19 wells will be drilled from them. The information regarding results of the drilling we will get from the new well is of particular importance”. (Trend/Business World Magazine)
