Azernews.Az

BAKU – President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan will have a say as the world’s gas producing country in the 21st century and is already doing so, as he hosted energy executives on Wednesday following the discovery of a huge gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

"The discovery of the Umid (Hope) field is a historic milestone," President Aliyev said. "This find will play a crucial role in the development of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry."

The deposit is the second largest field next to the offshore Shahdaniz field in Azerbaijan’s post-independence history.

President Aliyev said the successful exploration work at Umid being achieved during the country’s post-independence years was "a gift bestowed to the Azerbaijani people by Allah".

"I am delighted that the Umid field has justified our hopes," he said.

Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan’s proven natural gas reserves exceed 2 trillion cubic meters.

Khoshbakht Yusifzada, the state energy firm SOCAR’s First Vice-President, said Umid has estimated reserves of at least 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 30-40 million tons of condensate.

Umid reserves are estimated at a total of $30-40 billion, considering current gas prices in the market. Exploration work has been carried out on account of SOCAR.

According to Yusifzada, the Umid prospective structure enables to predict that considerable gas reserves are also available at the nearby Babek structure, which is double the size of Umid.

"The good results we achieved at Umid mean that prospects [for producing hydrocarbons] at Babek are double that…In other words, if Umid’s reserves are 200bn cubic meters, Babek will hold 400bn cubic meters, or, if they make up 300bn cu. m., it will hold 600bn cu. m. accordingly."

The Umid field, located 75 km south of the capital Baku and 40 km away from the shore, was spotted during geological surveys in 1953. Though nine exploration wells were drilled here in 1977-92, no commercially viable reserves were discovered at the field.