Equinor, SOCAR to drill offshore Azerbaijan

Equinor and partner SOCAR plan to drill an appraisal well later this year in the Karabagh licence in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea, on a discovery from 2000.

They will likely follow up with the Aypara exploration well in the Ashrafi, Dan Ulduzu, Aypara licence.

Equinor also issued more details on BP’s announcement of the new Azeri Central East platform, which will be integrated with existing infrastructure serving the ACG field.

This will have capacity to process up to 100,000 b/d of oil and should produce up to 300 MMbbl over its lifetime

The main aims of the investment are to add drilling capacity to accelerate production and increase recovery from the field. In addition, the new facility will provide flexibility for hosting future developments on the field.

All the drilling facilities and the topsides will be fabricated in Azerbaijan.

The partners committed to the investment following an agreement with Azerbaijan’s government to extend the life of the ACG field until 2049.

ACG currently has eight offshore platforms – six for production and two which provide processing, gas compression, water injection and utilities.

Oil and gas are exported to the Sangachal Terminal near Baku.

Last year total production from ACG averaged 584,000 boe/d.

Source: Offshore Magazine