BP begins oil production from new platform at ACG block on Caspian Sea
BAKU. April 16 (Interfax) - BP Plc has begun oil production from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform as part of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, BP-Azerbaijan said in a press release.
"BP, as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project, today announced the start-up of oil production from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform as part of the ACG field development in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. [...] ACE is the seventh offshore platform installed on the giant ACG field in the Caspian Sea," the company said.
The first production well, on which drilling began at the end of 2023, has delivered the first oil from the ACE platform, the press release said.
The company said that two additional production wells would be drilled and put into operation from the ACE platform in 2024.
"ACE production is expected to increase through 2024 to around 24,000 bpd as two more planned wells are drilled, completed and brought online," BP said.
The ACE project is the next stage in the development of the ACG block. The project envisions the drilling of 48 wells.
The goal of the ACE project is to achieve daily peak production of up to 100,000 barrels of oil and 350,000 cubic feet of gas by drilling additional wells and installing additional offshore facilities.
The shareholders of the ACG field block development project signed a final investment decision on the ACE project worth $6 billion in 2019, of which about $3.2 billion are construction costs, while the rest are development costs, including drilling new wells.
The project involves the construction of a new production and drilling platform with a housing block between the Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms at a sea depth of 137 meters.
The contract for the development of the Azeri, Chirag and Deepwater Gunashli fields was signed in 1994.
Oil and associated gas production from the ACG block began in November 1997. Currently, the share in the project of British BP (project operator) is 30.37%; the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan has 25%, Hungarian MOL owns 9.57%; American ExxonMobil owns 6.79%; Indian ONGC Videsh has 2.31%; Japanese Inpex Corp. owns 9.31% and Itochu Oil has 3.65%; Norwegian Equinor owns 7.27%, and Turkish TPAO owns 5.73%.