BAKU

BP plans to start exploration drilling in the shallow waters of the Absheron archipelago in Azerbaijan in the second half of this year, Tamam Bayatly, a spokeswoman for BP in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, told the Tribune, a venture the oil company hopes will eventually offset a decline in production at its major project in the country.

The project is dubbed “Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula” (SWAP) and is operated by a joint venture where BP and Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR have equal 50 percent stakes. The production sharing agreement between the two companies was signed in December 2014.

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 the most of the country’s oil output. Previously, the drilling at SWAP was planned to begin in the second quarter of 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

The contract area is about 1,900 square kilometres.

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.

The first exploration well will be drilled in the northeastern region of the contract area, at a sea depth of about 22 metres. The drilling is expected to take up to 90 days, with the option to extend an additional 30 days to complete the sidetrack.

Two other exploration wells at SWAP are expected to be drilled in 2022.

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.