The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) has
discovered large gas reserves - 'Umid' - in the Azerbaijani sector of
the Caspian, the president of SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev said, Trend
reports.
He said that it is the second largest gas reserve after Shakh Deniz.
The first drilling showed that Umid may have at least 200 billion
cubic meters of gas and 30 million tons of gas condensate, Abdullayev
said. The second drilling may show even larger quantities of gas.
Drilling from a stationary platform allowed SOCAR to reduce the
expenses on the work two-fold. It also helped reduce the time needed
for drilling from 7 to two years.
Abdullayev noted the geological complications of the gas field itself.
The exploration borehole on Umid is 6,500 meters deep. The drilling
was carried out using SOCAR's finances.
In 1980-1990s there was exploration drilling on the structure. Nine
boreholes were made from floating platforms. The new drilling was
carried out using the Umid-1 platform of SOCAR.
