488 
only four mobile rigs, more than 90 percent of the subsea wildcatting 
last year was still done from fixed platforms. The Soviets hope to 
use mobile rigs to drill over 30 percent of the Caspian’s wildcats 
in 1980 and up to 60 percent of the wildcats in 1983. The 10- 
year goals set for Caspian production probably cannot be achieved 
by drilling most exploratory holes from fixed platforms as the expendi- 
tures on fixed platform construction is too high and the time required 
to erect these units is too great. As a result, the Soviets are expected 
to push construction of mobile rigs and also may well purchase more 
foreign built mobile rigs with some of the currency exchange earned 
from sales of oil and gas to the West.?? ag 
The Soviets also plan an increase in directional drilling on the 
flanks of older Caspian fields such as Neftianye Kamni, along with 
deeper drilling in their central sectors and intensified secondary 
recovery efforts. A well is being drilled in Neftianye Kamni to reach 
Mesozoic formations at a target depth of 4,135 meters. 
Equally important for increased production are plans to develop 
several very promising nearby geological structures such as 28th of 
April and Kaverochkin, to the east of Naftianye Kamni, and Shakhovo- 
More to southwest. The Soviets claim that geological interpretations 
of photographs taken by their orbiting satellites have revealed 67 
geological structures in the Caspian Sea area that show promise for 
petroleum exploration. Ten of the structures photographed by the 
Salyut 2 orbiting satellite are on the Caspian’s eastern shelf where 
wildcat drilling is being rapidly expanded. 
The Baku Archipelago fields to the south of Baku now rank first 
in offshore Caspian crude oil and condensate production, exceeding 
90,000 barrels per day early in 1975. Annual increases, however, 
continue to be small, rising less than 4,300 barrels per day in 1974, 
with a 5,200-barrel-per-day increase planned for 1975.78 The Baku 
Archipelago fields now have over 100 producing wells; 26 of which 
were put into production during 1974. Twenty-eight wells were being 
drilled at the end of the year, and a total of about 30 are scheduled 
for activation in 1975. 
The Bakhar field, located south of Azerbaijan’s Apsheron Peninsula 
and about 40 kilometers east of Baku, is the Caspian’s most prolific 
gas field. In early 1975, it had only 25 wells but accounted for 
almost half of the Caspian’s total gas output. Bakhar gas and conden- 
sate production has more than quadrupled between 1970 and 1974. 
Soviet plans call for a 15 to 20 percent increase during 1975 following 
completion of a fifth pipeline to the Apsheron Peninsula. Hydrocar- 
bons are found in seven zones, the average depth being about 5,000 
meters. Last year all four wells that were planned to go deeper (to 
about 5,500 meters) had to be abandoned because of what was 
termed, ‘“‘technical problems.” 7° 
Only one new field discovery in the Caspian Sea was announced 
by the Soviets in 1974, an oil and gas discovery at Garasu in the 
27 Tbid. 
°8 Bakke, Donald R. Soviet Russia Hopes for Decade of Offshore Petroleum Expansion Rise 
Despite Skid in Subsea Oil Production. Offshore, June 20, 1975, p. 235. 
2) ibid: 
