Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
February 8, 2019 Friday
SOCAR about Start of Production from Karabakh Field
Baku/08.02.19/ Turan: Production of the first raw hydrocarbons from the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is expected in 2020-2021, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said.
"There are great expectations about the oil and gas reserves in the Karabakh field. At present, the construction of a marine base for mining and drilling at this field is underway. The construction of the marine support block has already been completed by 60%. The primary engineering of the project is also being completed, the head of SOCAR said in an interview with the AzerTaj state agency.
He also said that at present, preparations are underway for drilling an exploratory well in the prospective Aypara structure in the Caspian Sea.
Earlier, Abdullayev said the Norwegian company Equinor will start drilling the first exploratory well in the Karabakh field in the second half of 2019.
The drilling will be carried out using the Dede Gorgud semi-submersible floating drilling rig.
On May 31, 2018, SOCAR and Equinor signed in Baku a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for exploration and development of the block of prospective structures of Dan-Ulduzu-Ashrafi-Aypara and a Risk Service Contract for the development of the Karabakh field. For the implementation of the projects, SOCAR and Equinor created an operating company on a parity basis (50% to 50%).
The agreements were ratified by the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan on June 29, and entered into force on July 5.
The Karabakh field, with recoverable reserves estimated at 16 million tons of oil and 28 bcm of gas, is located 130 km east of Baku. The depth of the sea in the area is 180 meters.