Shah Deniz spuds new exploration well

bp, on behalf of the Shah Deniz co-venturers, announced today the spud of a new exploration well (SDX-8) in the contract area under the agreement on the exploration, development, and production sharing for the Shah Deniz prospective area in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, Azernews reports per the company.

The well is drilled with the Heydar Aliyev semi-submersible drilling rig, which was moved to the SDX-8 location on the eastern flank of the Shah Deniz field in December 2022.

It is planned to drill the well to a total depth of around 7,000 meters.

If successful the well will provide a clearer understanding of drillability, producibility, and resource potential of the deeper horizons beneath the currently producing reservoirs in the eastern flank.

The well will take approximately one year to drill and a further testing program could extend the well’s duration in order to evaluate the results.

The contract for the development of the ACG oil fields was signed on September 20, 1994, and took force in December. The contract for the development of the ACG block was extended to 2050 in September 2017.

The shareholders in the ACG project are BP (operator, 30.37 percent), SOCAR (25 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) (2.31 percent).