Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

BP, the operator of the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, will complete the drilling of two wells this year as part of the second stage of the field's development, a source in the oil and gas market told Trend news agency.

According to the source, work on the drilling of the SDX-07 development well is underway and currently its depth is 6,000 meters.

It said the drilling work is being carried out using the Heydar Aliyev semi-submersibledrilling rig, which is operated by the Danish company Maersk Drilling. The drilling of the wells will be completed in August or September this year.

The source said the operations on drilling another well are ongoing from the Istiqlal rig.

"The drilling of two wells has already been completed within the second stage of Shah Deniz development and by the end of this year their number will be increased to four," the source said.

Furthermore, the source said that though the advanced drilling under Phase 2 of the Shah Deniz field's development requires a lot of time and is expensive, this process is fully justified.

"The wells at the Shah Deniz field are expensive, however, due to their high recovery rates this will be compensated very quickly," the source said.

Speaking about the duration of drilling wells at the Shah Deniz field, the source said it depends on the complexity of the field's geology, the depth of the wells and high pressure. The drilling as well as the process of preparation of wells, lowering of columns, and testing at very high pressure is complicated.

"But despite this, the work within the advance drilling under the Shah Deniz-2 project is being conducted in accordance with the schedule," the source added.

The Shah Deniz field was discovered in 1999. It is one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields. The reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

The Shah Deniz Phase 1 was launched in 2006. It has the capacity to produce about 9 billion cubic meters of gas per year and approximately 50,000 barrels a day of condensate.

Shah Deniz Phase 2, one of the largest gas developments in the world, will help increase energy security of European markets through the opening of the new Southern Gas Corridor, which is a priority energy project for the European Union.

The gas which will be produced within Phase 2, which is due to begin from 2017 or 2018, is considered as the main source for the Nabucco West and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects -- both part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

Overall, the Shah Deniz field has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey as well as Europe.