The BP-led Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) held public hearings on Wednesday on the environmental impact assessment for the next stage of development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) offshore field.
The latest stage, the Chirag Oil Project, will be deeper than the Pereriv Suite reservoir to which the ACG contract extends.
BP Azerbaijan’s director for offshore structures, Ilgar Mammadov, told the public hearings that the project should produce at least 183,000 bpd of oil, 229 million cubic feet of gas to be delivered to the Azerbaijani side and 80 million cubic feet of gas produced by the gas-lift method.
“Production within the Chirag Oil Project aims to maintain daily oil production from the bloc at 1 million barrels in a period when production at other fields starts reducing,” Mammadov said.
BP Azerbaijan plans to start oil production within the Chirag Oil Project in late 2013.
The Western Chirag Platform will be constructed for the project. In 2010-12 pre-drilling will be conducted from the Dada Gorgud drilling rig and the drilling platform fabrication is scheduled for completion in 2013.
For the first time within the production sharing agreement in Azerbaijan a platform, including drilling jackets, will be fabricated fully in Azerbaijan. The platform will be designed for the drilling of 20 wells
The Environmental Impact Assessment includes conclusions on the construction of the new platform between the Chirag-1 and Deepwater Gunashli platforms, the laying of subsea pipelines and water pipelines.
The project is expected to be sanctioned in the first quarter of 2010.
The contract to develop the Azeri, Chirag and deepwater Gunashli fields was signed on 20 September 1994 and put into force on 12 December the same year.
The project partners are: UK’s BP (34.1367% - operator), US Chevron (10.2814%), ExxonMobil (8.0006%), Devon Energy (5.6262%) and Amerada Hess (2.7213%), Azerbaijan’s SOCAR (10%), Japan’s Inрex Corр. (10%) and Itochu Oil (3.9205%), Norway’s Statoil (8.5633%), Turkey’s TPAO (6.75%).
Oil production on Chirag field started in November 1997, from Central Azeri on 13 February 2005, Western Azeri on 30 December 2005, Eastern Azeri on 21 October 2006 and Deepwater Gunashli in early April 2008.
ACG overall reserves are estimated at 900m tonnes of oil and 140bn cu.m of gas. Some $21bn have already been invested in the bloc.
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