Oil & gas news

SECOND EXPLORATION WELL ON GARABAGLI DUE FOR COMPLETION

Drilling of the second exploration well on onshore Garabagli field is expected to complete at the end of this week. A source from "Salyan Oil", operator of the Kursangi-Garabagli PSA, has told Azernews that the drilling work will be followed by well trials.

The well's designed depth is 5,200 meters, of which 3,300 meters has been drilled vertically and the rest sidetracked. The drilling work is being performed by Croatian "Cros Co".

The contract is owned in the following percentages: SOCAR 50%, Delta Hess 20% and EBRD 30%.

OIL AND GAS SHOW IN KIEV PLANNED

The 5th international Oil and Gas-2001 exhibition is due in Kiev, Ukraine, October 29-November 1, 2001, according to the Ukrainian embassy. It is being organized by the Ministry for Fuel and Energy and oil and gas companies active in Ukraine.

The show will focus on exploration and development of oil and gas fields, new drilling technologies, storage and transportation of natural gas, etc. 80 companies have already reserved space, including 65 Ukrainian enterprises. Foreign participants include "Shell Gas Power" (Great Britain), "Schlumberger" (France), "Gas de France" (France), "Fischer Rosemount AG" (USA), etc.

NEW WELL COMMISSIONED ON GUNASHLI

The "28 May" oil and gas production unit has put into service a high flow-rate well on Gunashli field. The well is 3,850m deep. The productive reservoir was discovered following a special research by the "KhazarNeftGeoFizika" trust. The well flows at a daily rate of 120-130 tons of oil, SOCAR told AssA-Irada Friday.

The drilling, which started on January 3, 2001 by the offshore exploration drilling unit "Bayil Limani", was completed 4 months ahead of schedule - in mid-August.

A source from "Bayil Limani" said this is the third well bored on Gunashli this year. Two more wells will be drilled before the end of the year.

PIPES FROM GERMANY BROUGHT TO BAKU

Pipes for a 68km gas pipeline from Oil Rocks to Bahar have been delivered to Baku, SOCAR said Friday. The high-quality pipes have daily throughput capacity of 5 million cubic meters of gas. The pipes are made by German "Freestall", winner of the SOCAR-announced tender.

Construction of the mentioned gas pipeline, which is an initial section of the future Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, will complete in the first half of 2002.

SOCAR WELLS INCREASING

As of September 1, SOCAR had 6,976 wells, including 1,373 offshore and 5,603 onshore, 80 wells over last year's.

In January-August, 364 new wells (90 offshore and 274 onshore) were commissioned and 284 (88 offshore and 196 onshore) decommissioned.

OIL EXPORTS OVER 2MLN TONS

SOCAR exported 2,112,930 tons of oil and oil products in January-August this year, a source from the state oil company told AssA-Irada Saturday.

1.5 million tons of crude was pumped through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline to international markets. Also exported were 109,167,6 tons of petrol, 341,619,7 tons of diesel, 155,084,8 tons of aircraft fuel, 5,036,2 tons of kerosene, and 2,363 tons of other products.

OFFSHORE OIL OUTPUT PLAN OVER-FULFILLED

In the eight months of 2001, SOCAR offshore oil and gas production units produced 4,954,100 tons of oil, or 20,929 tons over the plan, a SOCAR source told Azernews Saturday.

5 of the 6 oil and gas production units have fulfilled the plan. The over-fulfillment was mainly thanks to the 28 May oil and gas production unit, which extracted 18,318 tons of crude above the plan bringing 8-month total production to 3,962,118 tons.

Offshore oil-workers have over-fulfilled the August oil production plan as well, as 630,100 tons of crude, or 701 over projections, was extracted. The 28 May unit produced 503,400 tons.

REFINERY INVITING BIDS FOR EQUIPMENT SUPPLY

The "AzNeftYanajag" refinery has announced an open tender for the supply of equipment, spare parts and reagents for technological refining facilities ELOU-AVT-6, catalytic reforming and cracking. Bidders are to submit their documents before October 23 and applications before October 31.

CASPIAN OIL, GAS EXPORTS CONFERENCE DUE IN MOSCOW

An international conference, "Caspian oil and gas exports through Russia", is due in Moscow on September 18-19. According to a government source, the conference will be attended by the companies engaged in oil and gas developments in the Caspian, as well as those from other countries. An Azeri government delegation will be led by head of the SOCAR foreign investment department Valeh Alasgarov.

MARKETING OF OIL PRODUCTS UP

The commercial exports department under «AzNeftYag» production unit marketed 185,937 tons of oil products, or 35,500 over July, in August 2001. A total of $23.4 million worth of products have been sold, a SOCAR source told Azernews Saturday.

122,075 tons of mazut (heating fuel), twice as many as in July, was sold in August. SOCAR considers this product as extremely important as its price outweighs its cost by a huge margin.