Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

SOCAR-AQS LLC, an integrated drilling and well services management company, fulfilled the obligations set for the company in 2013 for safe and effective drilling of wells.

The company said on January 21 that it has drilled 18,002 meters of the planned 16,900 meters approved by the customer, and constructed 6 wells versus 5 planned by the customer.

The cooperation agreement signed with Bahar Energy Operating Company for conducting drilling work at the Bahar and Gum Deniz fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea was one of the remarkable achievements of 2013.

The company noted that two wells from these fields have been drilled and delivered to the customer, and one well is being drilled in one of them. Four wells are undergoing subsurface repair work.

SOCAR-AQS also became the first national company in the history of Azerbaijan to drill a horizontal well on Gunashli field in October 2013. The job was done by drilling and delivering the horizontal production well No 350 from platform No 13 to its customer.

In the framework of implementing this project, a TopDrive was installed on the portal type tower of Uralmash 6000 PEM drilling rig for the first time.

The company also finished the year with zero damage to health, environment, and equipment during the implementation of its operations. The total amounts of the collected and disposed polymer- and oil-based drilling sludge and different types of domestic wastes were 3,565 tons and 1,416 cubic meters respectively.

The total amount of man-hours spent in national and international training centers for the improvement of the employees' professional knowledge and skills was 33,222.

SOCAR-AQS announced the implementation of the Summer Internship Program for the students of colleges, trade schools, and high schools of Azerbaijan in 2013, with the purpose of creating the right conditions for the close participation of students in the company's different structural units and providing them with opportunities to gain experience.

As a result of the initial selection phase, testing, and interviews, SOCAR-AQS selected 15 students to go through the 2-month internship program.

Another achievement of SOCAR-AQS in the area of implementing international standards is the successful conduction of the external audit by Swiss SGS. As a result of the audit which covered all the sites, SOCAR-AQS was recertified on the basis of three international standards, i.e. ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management).

Two audits had also been conducted in the company by the American Petroleum Institute -API. The objective of the company in 2014 is to successfully go through the audit and obtain an API certificate.

"In 2014,SOCAR-AQS has all the capabilities to continue improving its human resources, mastering new technique and technologies, developing business processes, implementing the policy of integration into the international drilling industry, and, ultimately, entering the international market," the company said.

SOCAR-AQS LLC was established in 2007 between Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR and Absheron Drilling Company.