SOCAR finishes appraisal drilling as part of new gas storage facility in Azerbaijan

SOCAR Company (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) will start drilling the third well within the framework of the creation of the underground gas storage in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, SOCAR told Trend on Feb. 5.

The drilling of exploratory wells on the basis of the salt deposit Nehru is conducted in the Tumbul area.

Currently, the second well designed to a depth of 820 meters has reached 725 meters. "We can probably say that drilling will be completed at this depth," the agency source stressed. According to the agency, the drilling of five exploratory wells is planned within the framework of new gas storage.

Earlier, SOCAR completed the drilling of the first appraisal well, the depth of which exceeded 1200 meters.

Currently, Azerbaijan carries swap gas supplies with Iran to provide the NAR with gas. To ensure stability of gas supplies to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, a decision was made to create an underground gas storage based on salt deposits. An underground gas storage facility with the capacity of 200-300 million cubic meters will be sufficient to meet the gas needs of the NAR.

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is blockaded because of the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories.

The first vice-president of SOCAR, Khoshbakht Yusifzada previously said that according to the primary data, the depth of the salt deposit here is 52 meters, while the creation of underground gas storage is considered appropriate at a depth of 40 meters.

Currently, two underground gas storages Kalmaz and Garadagh operate in Azerbaijan.


/Trend/