Project Profile
Value: US$2 billion
Location: 75 miles (110 km) southeast of Baku, The Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
Reserves: 300 billion cubic metres of natural gas & 37 million metric tons of condensate, or light oil
Area: 640 square km (250 square miles)
Water Depth: 1,800 feet (550 metres) to 2,900 feet (900 metres)
Start-up Year: -
The Zafar-Mashal deepwater block contract area is located 110 km southeast of Baku, close to the SD field (Map 10) in water depths ranging from about 550 to 900 m and covers about 640 square km. There is a sea depth of 618m in the area of the first exploration well. Potential gas reserves are estimated at 300 bcm of natural gas and 37 million tonnes of gas condensate with possible annual production of 2-3 bcm.
The \"Zafar-Mashal\" structure, previously known as D-9 and D-38, was discovered as a result of seismic research in 1961 and the first geophysical works were conducted in 1965 and 1987. Exploration drilling has not been carried out.
The first contract for the development of this prospective structure was signed by SOCAR and ExxonMobil on April 27, 1999. SOCAR had a 50% stake in the project, ExxonMobil 30% and ConocoPhillips 20%. In 2004 Exxon contracted Maersk of Denmark to drill the Zafar-1 well, which was conducted from the semisubmersible drilling rig \"Leader\" (now Heydar Aliyev). The main goal of the drilling was the formation and VIII Horison of the \"Balakhan Formation\". However, the drilling did not show positive results. As a result, the project was ended because the discovered hydrocarbon volumes were non-commercial and the well was plugged and abandoned in 2006.
The first exploration well on the structure involved complex drilling due to the varying water depth (sloping sea bed), high reservoir pressure, presence of mud volcanos and gas accumulations at shallow depths.
Operators:
SOCAR
Statoil
Contractors:
Keppel Corp. (Singapore): to build a modern drilling rig at an estimated cost of more than US$1 billion. (July, 2016)