Gas extraction on the first gas well of Azerbaijan's Absheron gas field in Caspian Sea will start at the beginning of 2020, as stated by development operator Total at a public hearing on Project’s environmental impact report in Baku on February 20.

The volume of extraction in the first phase will total 4.3 million cubic meters of gas and 12,000 barrels of condensate, according to Total.

Drilling of the gas well is programmed for the period March 2018 – March 2019.

Earlier, SOCAR and Total inked a framework deal in late 2016 on the most important contractual and commercial principles regulating the program for the first stage of development of the Absheron field.

In the first phase, the field development comprises drilling one well at a depth of 450 meters. The extraction will amount to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which will entirely flow to the domestic market of Azerbaijan, as well as important amounts of condensate.

Total experts predict that the reserve of Absheron field will be 326 billion cubic meters of gas and 108 million tons of condensate.

JOCAP, with 50 percent share possessed by SOCAR and Total each, will run the Absheron project.