Shah Deniz Stage 1 (SD1) gas production broke an historic record by exceeding 30mn m³/d in Q1 2016. That growth will be sustained this year, the vice-president for oil and gas production and transport at state monopoly SOCAR Rahman Gurbanov, told NGE on April 23.
The field produced some 2.704bn m³ which was about 141mn m3 more than the same period in last year, or an increase of 4%.
SD1 also increased gas condensate production by 83,000 metric tons to 625,300 mt over the period, he added. The SD1 Alfa platform was modernized and new wells are being drilled. “I am sure the production level will exceed 10bn m3 in 2016, compared with 9.9bn m3 in the previous year,” he said. The capacity of 10.4bn m3/yr.
Gurbanov also says that Socar has started optimizing the gas demand sector to stop wasting gas which according to official statistics is around 1bn m³/yr. Gurbanov said that this year the figure would be down by 200-250mn m3/yr.
The BP-led consortium is preparing to launch the second phase of Shah Deniz by 2018 to produce and export 16bn m3/yr of gas to Turkey and Europe.
Azerbaijan is also preparing to launch a new platform at the Guneshli oil field in May. It also produces associated gas.
It will replace Socar-operated Platform 10, which had 1mn m3/d of gas production capacity, until it caught fire last December.
In March, Gurbanov told NGE that SOCAR had launched a production rig in its section of the offshore Guneshli field, Platform 7, to boost both oil and natural gas production.
He added that the rig would drill 6 wells in 2016, of which two would be at a depth of 2,800 m and produce dry gas and the other four would produce oil with associated gas. The total from all six would be 150mn m³/yr.
Azerbaijan boosted exports by 1.3% to 2.459bn m3 in Q1 ‘16, compared with the same period last year. The total output rose by 56mn m³/d to 7.471bn m3 in the same period.
Ilham Shaban
Natural Gas Europe
