The Garadagh gas, oil and condensate field is located in the far south-west of the Absheron peninsula, 25 km from Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea between the Korgoz and Garagash mountains. According to the administrative division, it belongs to the Garadagh district of Baku. In the central part of the field there are Pilpile, Torpagli-Akhtarma and Akhtarma mud volcanoes. Oil and gas springs on mud volcanoes attracted the attention of the famous geologist G.V. Abikhin in 1863, and he conducted extensive research there. In 1903, the field was once again thoroughly studied by D.V. Golubyatnikov.
The Garadagh fold is located on the Shabandag-Ateshgah-Lokbatan-Puta-Korgoz tectonic fold line as the next (western) rise of the Western Absheron and has an anticlinal structure. Transverse faults caused the field to be divided into several blocks.
The first industrial oil in the field was extracted in 1939 from exploration well No. 2 in the southern limb with a daily production of 150 tons. In 1955 and 1956, the gas-condensate and oil and gas content of the Fasila (Interruption) and Girmaki reservoirs was discovered, respectively. Well No. 78, drilled in 1955, produced 350,000-400,000 m3 of gas and more than 60 tons of condensate per day. The industrial development of the field began in 1959.
From the beginning of the field development to the 1st of January 2024, it produced 27.4 billion m3 of gas and 132,1 thousand tons of oil.
It is planned to drill an exploration well into the Miocene sediments to determine the oil and gas content of the layers below the productive layer in the southern block of the field. Additional wells can be planned to be drilled in the following years if the exploration well gives positive results.
The Garadagh field is operated by the A. Amirov OGPD of SOCAR’s Azneft PU. Part of the field is used as underground gas storage within the Gas Storage Operations Department of Azneft PU.
Underground gas storage
In 1975, due to the depletion of reserves in the southern part of the Garadagh field, its exploitation was suspended, and in 1976, it was decided to establish underground gas storage on the basis of the depleted gas condensate field. Since 1986, the field has been used as gas storage. By the relevant government decision, the horizon VII on the southern limb of the field was transferred to Azeri Gas Transportation PU (now SOCAR’s Gas Export Department) for the establishment of underground gas storage facilities. During the exploitation of the field, 21.2 billion m3 of gas and 2.6 million tons of oil and condensate were extracted from the horizons of the field used as gas storage. Garadagh gas storage operated in gas injection mode for 2 years after its commissioning, and then switched to injection mode after increasing the volume and pressure of the injected gas. At present, the horizons VII and VII (a) in the southern limb of the field operate as underground gas storage. As of the 1st of January 2024, there have been 70 wells, including 60 operating and 10 non-operating wells, in exploitation well stock for underground gas storage facilities in the Garadagh field.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has instructed SOCAR to expand the active volumes of underground gas storage facilities in order to provide uninterrupted natural gas supply of the country. At a time when gas production is constantly increasing in the country and favourable conditions are created for the accumulation of significant reserves, it is important to expand the capacity of the Garadagh gas storage in order to safely store gas reserves to meet the needs of the economy and the population. In recent years, significant work has been done to increase the active capacity of the storage, a new gas compressor station has been built, and new gas pressure wells have been drilled in the country.