On December 24 a new stationary drilling platform built by SOCAR Oil and Gas Construction Trust at the Bulla-Deniz field was commissioned in a ceremony attended by Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR and other senior officials.

The platform was projected by the in-house Oil & Gas Research and Design Institute and the construction started in 2017. It was designed for drilling of one exploratory and four production wells. The platform was constructed in 30-meter sea depth and its deck is 12 meters above the sea.

The average depth of wells will be 6300 meters. After commissioning of the wells the platform is expected to produce 2.5 million cubic meters of natural gas and 500 tons of condensate per day. The drilling will be carried out by ZJ-70DBS drilling rig. The rig has 46,6 meter high tower, which will enable to drill down to 7000-meter depth from the rotor’s level. Drilling and exploitation works are scheduled to be carried out simultaneously. The wells will be operated by N.Narimanov Oil and Gas Extraction Department of SOCAR’s production unit Azneft.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said: ''Guided by the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, SOCAR has become a big international group of companies over the past 15 years. Today it represents Azerbaijan as its global brand and it creates value and income for the country. We are investing on time also in our traditional fields of activity, such as exploration and production, to ensure the continuous supply of the new industrial facilities in Azerbaijan and abroad with crude materials, and most importantly, to meet the needs of the Azerbaijani people in fuel and petrochemical products. Thanks to the determination and hard work of Azerbaijani oil workers, SOCAR has achieved significant growth in production during last 11 months. The new platforms based on modern technologies like Bulla-Deniz-12 will ensure the sustainability of our successes. We are proud of being able to build and install such complicated platforms that meet high engineering and technological requirements completely single-handedly. Among other things it demonstrates that SOCAR has emerged as a modern global company in all fields of our business.''

Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh, First Vice President of SOCAR said: ''We have gathered here on a very remarkable day for Azerbaijani oilmen. Today is the birthday of President Ilham Aliyev, a friend of oil workers, who was working together with us for a long time. On this day, the State Oil Company has launched a new, high-tech drilling platform at the Bulla-Deniz offshore field. The construction and installation of such a challenging offshore platform by Azerbaijani oilmen single-handedly seemed impossible in the past, but today we witness it as reality. This is one of the most important projects that were realized with the guidance and support of Mr. President, so the oil workers presented it as a gift to him and Azerbaijani people on his birthday.''

The platform was built to the highest environmental, safety and fire prevention standards and requirements. It has four blocks in the platform’s production area and one in its residential area, a helideck, four jetties and four boarding and landing areas, as well as a comfortable and safe residential building to accommodate 36 people.

Bulla-Deniz field is located in the northern part of the Baku archipelago, 10 km south-east from the Sangachal-Duvanny-Khara Zira island field. The structure was discovered in 1957 by seismic exploration, deep exploration drilling started in 1965. However, initially the drilling of the first 17 wells was not completed due to complicated geological conditions. The oil and gas potential of the field was confirmed after the drilling of 18th well in 1973.

About SOCAR

SOCAR is one of the leading international energy companies. In order to ensure the economic interests of the Azerbaijani people, SOCAR is a major operator and participant in a number of transnational projects across the country and abroad. The company is active in all the oil and gas industry value chains. Exploration of oil and gas fields, production, processing and transportation of oil, gas and gas condensate constitute the main part of the operations of SOCAR. SOCAR also exports natural gas, oil and petrochemical products to the country's market, as well as international markets. The company's goal is to become a vertical integrated international energy company with advanced experience in the field of effective operation, social and environmental responsibility. As an important EU energy supplier, SOCAR plays a special role in the sustainable economic development of Europe.