- Title: AZERBAIJAN: French Total announces new gas field in Caspian
- Date: 10th September 2011
- Summary: CASPIAN SEA OFF AZERBAIJAN COAST (FILE - 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) OIL PLATFROM AERIALS VARIOUS OF TECHNICAL OPERATOR AT OIL PLATFORM VARIOUS EQUIPMENT AT OIL PLATFROM OIL PLATFROM BEING PULLED BY TUGBOAT VARIOUS OF WORKERS BY OIL PLATFORM CONSTRUCTION UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, AZERBAIJAN (FILE - 2002) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) ( REUTERS) PIPELINE ON GROUND GRADER MO
- Embargoed: 25th September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Topics: Business,Industry,Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA8WHYK8U47UE8E67TRBTG6FBO5
- Story Text: French energy company Total announced on Friday (September 9) a significant discovery of natural gas off the coast of Azerbaijan, at the Absheron field.
Total said initial test results from the Absheron X-2 well suggest a potential reserve total of around 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and associated condensates.
Marc Blaizot, Total's senior vice-president for exploration, said in a press release the discovery could be very significant.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev called the discovery fantastic news.
Aliyev said: "This will give us a chance to enhance our gas strategy, will allow Azerbaijan to become more famous as a gas exporter in the country as well as to secure the interests of Azerbaijani people. And from now on for many years to come, for several decades, Azerbaijan will remain the gas exporting country, and we will become even more important for the world."
The Absheron X-2 block Caspian well is located at a depth of about 6550 meters and some 25 kilometres north east of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Total signed a deal for exploration of the Absheron gas field, with estimated reserves of 300 billion cubic metres, in February 2009. GDF Suez joined the project later.
The start of exploration was planned for September-October 2010 but was postponed due to delays in delivery of a drilling rig from the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. The cost of the first exploration work is estimated at about $200 million.
Oil companies Chevron, Total and SOCAR started exploration at the Absheron gas field at the end of 1990s but pulled out of the project after they did not discover enough gas to make further exploration worthwhile.
According to preliminary information, Azerbaijan produced 27 bcm (billion cubic metres) of gas in 2010, up from 23.6 bcm in 2009, and it plans to boost production to 30-35 bcm by 2015.
The country sells gas to the domestic market, neighbouring Georgia and Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, as well as Russia. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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