Statoil Prepares for Caspian Field Work
Azerbaijan state oil company Socar expects to sign a contract with Norway's Statoil to develop the Karabakh oil and gas field in May, an anonymous source at Socar told NGW late April.
Last December, the sides agreed upon the main principles of prospective co-operation related to a risk service contract (RSC) for Karabakh, which has reserves of 16mn mt oil and condensate as well as 28bn m³ gas.
The French major Total is also preparing to start drilling the Absheron gas field May 10, the source said. Socar started the development of the offshore Absheron gas field March 1, in a 50-50 partnership with Total, which will operate it under a production-sharing agreement.
The head of investments at Socar Vagif Aliyev told NGW that the consortium would drill a production well with 1.5bn m³/yr gas and 4.4mn barrels/yr capacity. The first phase is expected to start up in mid-2019.
The second phase plan depends on the results of drilling but the overall hope is for 5bn m³/yr or more. “The first phase gas is aimed at the domestic market needs, but the second phase gas could be exported," Aliyev said. So far there is no identified field that will supply the gas for the second phase of the Southern Gas Corridor, but plenty of candidates.
The agreement comes after the UK major BP and Socar signed a production-sharing contract, announced April 26 for an unexplored sector of the Caspian Sea, of which the primary objective is oil production.
Baku prioritises re-injections
Azerbaijan’s 1Q18 gross gas production rose 5.2% to 7.3bn m3, but of that only 4.794bn m³ was sales gas, unchanged on year, as more of the as was reinjected into oil fields at the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block, to capitalise on higher oil prices.
The country exported about 5% less gas as well. About 1.656bn m3 went to Turkey and 831.7mn m3 to Georgia, while it bought 796.4mn m³ from Russia and 168mn m3 from Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan started buying gas from Turkmenistan in October 2016 and from Russia last November.