Azerbaijan's onshore oil development enjoys great prospects
By Aynur Jafarova
The development of residual oil on Azerbaijan’s onshore fields currently enjoys great prospects but it requires additional investments and modern technologies, Head of an authorized office of the US Capital Equipment and Trading Corporation (CETCO) in Azerbaijan Artem Krashakov said.
“The prospects for the opening of new large oil fields in Azerbaijan are not defined yet,” Krashakov told Trend Agency. “That is why all efforts should be directed towards the development of residual reserves and Mesozoic sediments on the old fields. However, all this requires using modern equipment."
He went on noting that the proper organization of the drilling
process is important, and a great deal of attention should be paid
to the correct choice of drilling rigs in this issue. As an example
of modern and quality onshore rigs, Krashakov mentioned drilling
SCHRAMM T250XD (made in U.S.), delivery and maintenance of which is
carried out by CETCO.
These rigs allow drilling wells of a depth to 4,000 meters.
Technological features of SCHRAMM rigs allow high-speed operation
while maintaining the quality, preparation of well cluster, the
development of new fields or implementation of plans for a
large-scale intensification of production on the fields.
“I do not agree with the statement “the more expensive, the
better,”” Krashakov said. “One can always find quality equipment at
a quite affordable price. In any case, the use of modern equipment
requires additional investment, and this is a natural process.”
He also said despite the fact that the era of cheap oil has ended,
efforts to develop this important resource will be continued, but
already with the use of more modern technological achievements.
The main part of oil of energy-rich Azerbaijan is extracted from giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields in the Caspian Sea.
Since the beginning of development of the field around 345 million metric tons of oil and 100 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted.
In 2013, Azerbaijan produced some 43.15 million metric tons of oil. The government expects the oil production in the country to reach about 40.62 million metric tons in 2015 compared to 41.65 million metric tons projected for 2014.