Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

British BP, the technical operator for the development of the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, will start the drilling of the seventh well within the first stage of development of the field.

A source in the oil and gas market told Trend Agency on February 11 that the drilling of the new well on a single platform, which was constructed at the field within the first stage of its development, will start in July-August 2014.

"Most recently, the sixth production well was commissioned at the platform, and currently all these wells are in a working order," the source noted.

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

The potential daily volume of production at Shah Deniz is currently 27.3 million cubic meters of gas (depending on demand) and 55,000 barrels of condensate.

Shah Deniz is operated by the London-based BP. The partners include SOCAR, Statoil, Total, Lukoil, NICO and TPAO. BP and Shah Deniz partners have invested $6 billion in Shah Deniz Stage 1 up to date.

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