Gobustan Operating Company completes assessment drilling

The State oil company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) told Trend that the boring is carried out in accordance with the schedule, despite “very frequent replacement of drill bits.” SOCAR has a 20 per cent participating interest in the project.

The Kanizdagh field is part of the Littoral Section, which is included in the GOC-operated South-Western Gobustan contract area.

The contract area currently produces 12 million cubic meters of gas per month – the turnout is extracted from four development wells.

The operating company is about to start – beginning from October 1, 2005 – the sales of the produced gas to SOCAR, in accordance with the terms of an earlier signed purchase agreement. Gas will be sold at the agreed rate of 1.29 U.S. dollars per million of British Thermal Units (BTU).

GOC has approved the 2005 budget of capital investment (in the project) at 6.5 million U.S. dollars; of the total, some 4 million U.S. dollars will be spent on the drilling of five wells in the contract area.