SOCAR plans to use Azerbaijan’s big drilling rig in 2018

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR plans to use the country’s big ‘Dede Gorgud’ floating semi-submersible drilling rig, which is in conservation mode, in drilling operations in the Caspian Sea in 2018, a senior SOCAR representative told Trend.

The source said that SOCAR has specific plans for using it the next year, but it has not yet been determined in which of the projects the drilling rig will be used.

"We are currently working on a full-scale project for the development of the Umid gas field, reviving the development of the Karabakh field. Moreover, the government approved a plan for drilling an exploration well on the promising Babek structure, so there are options," noted the SOCAR representative.

The representative added that regardless of the structure of the contract on development of the Umid-Babek block, the main task of SOCAR is to ensure the optimal development of the already explored deposit and to ensure exploratory drilling on promising structures.

"Babek is a very promising structure, so it is strategically important to drill a well there and then transfer reserves from the perspective category to the "C2" category (reserves of explored deposits of complex geological structure and poorly explored reserves) and then think about the development plan," said SOCAR representative.

Earlier, ‘Dede Gorgud’ floating semi-submersible drilling rig conducted drilling operations on the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of oil fields under the contract with BP.

The ‘Dede Gorgud’ floating semi-submersible drilling rig, built in 1980, can work at a depth up to 500 meters, while the depth of drilling operations reaches 6,100 meters.

The Caspian Drilling Company (CDC, 92.44 percent of which is owned by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR) is the operator of the ‘Dede Gorgud’ drilling rig. (Trend.az)