BP Amoco Major Gas Condensate Find in Azerbaijan

abarrelfull wrote on 08 Aug 2012 05:22
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12 July 1999
BP Amoco announced today a significant gas condensate discovery in Azerbaijan. This follows the completion of the SDX 1 well, the first to be drilled by project participants on the offshore prospect known as Shah Deniz in the Caspian Sea.

SDX 1 was drilled to a total depth of 6,316 metres and encountered gas condensate in three separate horizons, with a total net payzone of 220 metres.

The lowest horizon was tested and gas flowed at the maximum capacity of the on-board equipment of 50 million standard cubic feet a day, with 2,965 barrels a day of condensate, at a choke setting of 38/64-inch and a wellhead flow pressure of 7,126 pounds a square inch. The well has now been suspended.

Results from SDX 1 suggest a significant resource in the structure - enough to justify the early establishment of a joint working group (Azerbaijan, SOCAR, Shah Deniz) to explore the possibilities for material gas exports.

BP Amoco's Exploration Business Unit Leader for Azerbaijan, Andy Hopwood said: "Clearly SDX 1 is a good result for Shah Deniz participants and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The second well should give us more information about other areas of the reservoir and as work continues, we will be able to build up a much more complete understanding of the resource. But even at this early stage, this discovery has confirmed the exciting potential to create a new dimension, namely gas exports, to the development of Azerbaijan's energy industry."

The second well on the Shah Deniz structure (SDX 2), six kilometres to the south of SDX 1, started drilling in 348 metres water depth with the rig 'Istiglal' on 6 May. It is planned to complete this well before the middle of October.

The Shah Deniz participants are :

• BP Amoco (UK - operator) 25.5%
• Statoil Azerbajian A.S. (Norway) 25.5%
• SOCAR Commercial Affiliate (Azerbaijan) 10%
• Elf Petroleum Azerbaijan B.V. (France) 10%
• LukAgip N.V. (Russia; Italy) 10%
• Oil Industries Engineering and Construction (Iran) 10%
• Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company Limited (Turkey) 9%

Notes:

The Shah Deniz prospect was first identified by Azeri geologists in 1954. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan, approximately 70 kilometres south east of Baku and is beneath water depths ranging from 50 metres in the north west to 600 metres in the south east. The Shah Deniz Production Sharing contract covers an area of 860 square kilometres
SDX 1 top hole was spudded on 7 July 1998 by the ‘Dada Gorgud' drilling rig and top hole drilling was completed on 9 August 1998. On 14 December , the ‘Istiglal' drilling rig re-entered SDX 1. On 14 March 1999 following mechanical difficulties on the ‘Istiglal', the ‘Dada Gorgud' re-entered SDX 1, reaching target depth on 19 May. Testing was completed on 28 June 1999
SDX 1 is the deepest well drilled in the South Caspian from a semi-submersible drilling rig.
The Shah Deniz Production Sharing Agreement was ratified on October 1996. Work on the contract area since then has included seabed surveys; 3D seismic; hazard surveys; a rig upgrade project; as well as the drilling of the SDX 1 well. SDX 2 well is now drilling ahead (and currently at approximately 3,600 metres).

• BP Amoco Major Gas Condensate Find in Azerbaijan

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