SOCAR makes great drillng work during Jan-June period

Source: AzerNews

SOCAR carried out 83,334 meters of drilling operations (excluding joint ventures and operating companies) in January to June, 2013, compared to 72,355 meters in the same period of last year, a statement released by Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR on Thursday said.

Operation drilling made up 78,098 meters out of entire drilling work carried out in this period and exploration drilling work amounted to 5,236 meters.

SOCAR's drilling operations exceeded 136,400 meters (excluding joint ventures and operating companies) in 2012, compared to 147,300 meters in 2011.

SOCAR plans to complete drilling of the second well on the Umid gas and condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in two months, the source said.

According to him, currently the depth of the well exceeds 6,300 meters out of a projected 6,500 meters.

Drilling will be fully completed In the nearest months.

According to the drilling schedule, the entire work is fully complete by December, or perhaps even earlier, the source said.

The Umid field discovered in 2010 is located in 75 kilometers of Baku and 40 kilometers of the coast. The results of first exploratory well on the field suggest that the volume of estimated reserves is more than 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 40 million tons of condensate.

SOCAR will also finalize drilling of an exploration well on the Goshadash prospective field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea by the end of the year, a source in the company told Trend news agency.

According to the source, the current depth of the well is 750 meters out of a projected 3,500 meters.

"Drilling operations are underway on Goshadash and are forecasted to complete by the end of the year," the source said.

Earlier, SOCAR started drilling the first exploration well with a planned depth of 3,500 meters on the Goshadash structure. However, it was later suspended due to technical reasons. Then work on drilling a new well was launched.

The Goshadash structure is located in the northwest of the Absheron archipelago in 15 kilometers from the coast where the depth of water is 10 - 50 meters.

In 2013, the drilling subdivision of SOCAR - the Complex Drilling Work Trust - plans to implement 145,000 meters of drilling, the source said.

The Complex Drilling Work Trust carried out 116,894 meters of drilling in 2012. 109,421 meters out of all drilling work was in operation and 7,473 meters was in exploration work.

Furthermore, the source said that in the first half of this year the Complex Drilling Work Trust has carried out 75,700 meters of drilling.

SOCAR includes Azneft production association, which runs onshore and offshore oil producing companies, Azerkimya and gas supplier Azerigas.

In cooperation with foreign partners, SOCAR participates in major projects such as the development of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil and gas fields and the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in the Caspian Sea.

In addition, the state energy company has a number of processing and service enterprises as well as institutions involved in geophysical and drilling activities.

SOCAR improves country's gas supply infrastructure

Installation of new equipment at the Garadagh underground gas storage facility enabled to prepare and transport gas samples in accordance with international standards, Azneft PA of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR reported.

Two catchers were renovated and restored and two new catchers were installed at the underground gas storage facility. Due to the fact that catchers are equipped with modern sensors and automatic controls, they are being controlled automatically.

"This, in turn, allows for, preparation and transportation of gas from the storage in accordance with international standards," the report said.

Azerbaijan has two underground gas storage facilities - Kalmaz and Garadagh.

At the end of last season's injection, the volume of gas in underground storage facilities of the country amounted to about 3.3 billion cubic meters, compared to about 3.25 billion cubic meters at the end of last season. In particular, last year, the store has been pumped 2.11 billion cubic meters of gas.

According to the results of the last pumping season, the volume of gas in the country's underground storages amounted to about 3.3 billion cubic meters, compared to about 3.25 billion cubic meters at the end of previous season. In particular, 2.11 billion cubic meters of gas was pumped into storage last year.