Offshore staff
LONDON– BP and its partners have sanctioned the Azeri Central East (ACE) project, the next stage of development of the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) oilfield complex in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
The $6-billion development includes a new offshore platform and facilities designed to process up to 100,000 b/d of oil. The project is expected to achieve first production in 2023 and produce up to 300 MMbbl over its lifetime.
The sanction is the first major investment decision by the ACG partnership since theextension of the ACG production sharing agreement (PSA) to 2049 was agreed in 2017. More than $36 billion has been invested into the development of the ACG area since the original PSA was signed in 1994.
The ACE project is centered on a new 48-slot production, drilling and quarters platform located mid-way between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of about 140 m (459 ft). The project will also include new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal Terminal.
In addition, there will be a water injection pipeline installed between the East Azeri and ACE platforms to supply injection water from the Central Azeri compression and water injection platform to the ACE facilities.
Construction activities, which will start this year and run through mid-2022, will take place in-country using local resources. It is expected that, at peak, construction activities will create up to 8,000 jobs.
BP has a 30.37% stake in and operates the ACG PSA. Partners include SOCAR/AzACG (25%), Chevron (9.57%), INPEX (9.31%), Equinor (7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO (5.73%), ITOCHU (3.65%) and ONGC Videsh Ltd. (2.31%).
04/19/2019
