First Shafag-Asiman exploration well spudded offshore Azerbaijan

The first exploration well was spudded on the Shafag-Asiman offshore block in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea on Jan. 13, BP said. BP is operator with 50% interest. SOCAR holds the other 50%.

SAX01 is the first well to be drilled in the contract area and is in accordance with BP's obligations under the PSA that was ratified by the Azerbaijani parliament in 2011 (OGJ Online, May 10, 2011).

Drilled from Caspian Drilling Co.’s Heydar Aliyev semisubmersible drilling, the well is expected to reach total depth of up to 7,000 m. Drilling is expected to take 9 months. Well data will be analyzed and, if successful, an evaluation program may be conducted to confirm the results.

The structure has significant potential for a large-scale gas discovery, said Gary Jones, BP's regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.

The Shafag-Asiman offshore block lies some 125 km to the southeast of Baku in water depths of 650-800 m. It covers an area of some 1,100 sq km.  The block is 60 km from Shah Deniz and 145 km from the Sangachal terminal.

A 3D seismic acquisition program was conducted on the contract area in 2012.

Interpretation of the seismic dataset was completed in 2015 followed by the selection of the first well location and planning for drilling activities.