SOCAR launches new platform on Bulla-Deniz field

Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company SOCAR has completed the construction work and launched a new deepwater offshore platform No.6 on Bulla-Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea on May 2, reported the company’s website.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and other senior managers attended the opening ceremony and congratulated the workers of the platform on this remarkable event.

Abdullayev emphasized the importance of the new platform for maintaining and increasing the production in the Bulla-Deniz field.

The platform No.6 was constructed in accordance with the international standards and drilling has already started, he added.

The project was developed by the Oil and Gas Research and Design Institute under SOCAR and the construction of the platform commenced in 2014.

The construction of the first complex was carried out by SOCAR’s Oil and Gas Construction Trust.

The platform is designed for drilling four natural gas wells in the next 3 years, one of them is exploratory, and three are operational. It is estimated that each well will produce 400,000- 500,000 cubic meters of gas and 150 tons of condensate.

The platform was installed at the 20 meters depth in the Sea. The platform covers an area of 5,350 square meters and includes produc- tion and residential sections.

Moreover, the platform was equipped with a helicopter landing pad, 10 berths,4 squadrons, 3 stationary lifting cranes with 4-28 tons of lifting capacity, accommodation for 88 people, 3 rescue boats, 9 rescue rafts, biological water treatment plant, sea water desalination plant, ventilation, heating and cooling and fire extinguishing systems, control and measurement devices.

Drilmec 3000 HP land will be used for drilling, which is able to drill a well deeper than 8,000 meters.

Overall, SOCAR is implementing a new natural gas program as part of its commitments to the government in the framework of the tasks assigned to the company by the President.

The program includes drilling and commissioning new wells on Bulla-deniz, Umid, and May 28 fields.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan allocates loans for the implementation of the drilling works.

SOCAR has been active in the Bulla Deniz field since 1975. The company has extracted over 61 billion metric tons of gas and 12 million tons of oil and gas condensate from the field by 2015.