BP and partners have sanctioned the Azeri Central East (ACE) project, the next stage of development of the giant 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 BOPD. The project is expected to achieve first production in 2023 and produce up to 300 million bbl over its lifetime.
The extension of the ACG production sharing agreement (PSA) to 2049 was agreed in 2017 and this is the first major investment decision by the partnership since then.
More than $36 billion has been invested into the development of the ACG area since the original PSA was signed in 1994.
BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said, “Working together over the past 25 years, this remarkable partnership has turned these world-class assets into tremendous benefits for the people of Azerbaijan. The ACE extension builds on that legacy and helps ensure that the next quarter century will be just as bright.”
The ACE project is centered on a new 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters platform located midway between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 m.
The main objectives of the platform are to add drilling capacity to accelerate production, increase recovery, and reduce risk. In addition, the platform provides flexibility for hosting future developments in ACG. The drilling facilities will be fabricated entirely in Azerbaijan alongside the topsides to leverage the track record and skillset built in the Caspian, partner Equinor said in a statement.
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 on the coast of the Caspian Sea, 45 km south of Baku, Azerbaijan.
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 will begin this year and continue through mid-2022 and will take place in-country utilizing local resources. It is expected that, at peak, construction activities will create up to 8,000 jobs.
ACG currently has eight offshore platforms—six production platforms and two process, gas compression, water injection, and utilities platforms. The oil and gas is exported to the Sangachal Terminal. In 2018, total production from ACG averaged 584,000 B/D.
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 Limited (OVL) (2.31%).