BAKU

BP plans to commence the drilling of a second well in the shallow waters of the Absheron archipelago in Azerbaijan after abandoning the first exploration well drilled in the North Khali area in August as per the original design and plan.

The project is dubbed “Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula” (SWAP) and is operated by BP, which holds a 25 percent stake after selling a 25 percent interest to Russia’s oil company LUKOIL in September this year. Another 50 percent stake is held by Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR. The initial production sharing agreement between BP and SOCAR was signed in December 2014.

Participants hope that the venture will eventually offset a decline in production at its major project in the country.

BP said that an exploration well would be drilled within the West Prospective Area of the SWAP contract area, approximately 1.5 km from the coast, in the water depth of approximately seven metres. The well is planned to reach a total depth of up to 4,400 metres. The contract area is about 1,900 square kilometres.

Drilling activities are expected to take approximately four months to complete with a further month of drilling anticipated should appraisal activities be required for obtaining further reservoir information, the company said.

BP expects to discover oil reserves at SWAP to compensate for a decline in oil production at its major project in Azerbaijan – the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfields, which account for most of the country’s oil output.

Caspian Drilling Company, BP’s drilling contractor in the project, intends to use the Satti jack-up drilling rig leased from Kazakhstan’s state energy firm KazMunayGas for the first time for exploration drilling in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. KazMunayGaz Drilling & Services and Caspian Drilling Company signed an agreement on drilling wells with this jack-up rig on February 26 as part of exploration work on a joint project between SOCAR and BP.

In 2015-16, seismic studies were carried out in the shallow waters of the Absheron archipelago and as a result of those studies, three areas were selected for drilling.

In case of discovery of commercially valuable reserves within six months, a development programme for the zone will be prepared, and then within 36 months, the development will begin directly, which may take 23 years, BP said.