BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 6. It is critical to maintain equipment on the Chirag platform located in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field block in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, the senior drilling engineer at bp Mahammad Naghiyev said at the IADC Drilling Caspian 2025 conference and exhibition, Trend reported.
Naghiyev emphasized that, as with any long-term offshore structure, maintaining the equipment is critical, especially the conductors. He stressed that these steel structures, while important, are very vulnerable to corrosion. Over the years, concerns about conductor corrosion have only increased.
“Our team conducted a series of tests and inspections to assess the level of corrosion and also cleaned the corrosion scale on one of the conductors, which revealed the full extent of the problem,” he said.
According to him, the corrosion was even on the inner 20-inch sheathing, and the data showed a trend toward a worsening situation. If the problem had not been addressed, the corrosion would have continued to develop, which could have led to safety and operational risks.
He emphasized that a system was developed for dismantling and recovery, which included the working resources of both bp and Weatherford.
To note, the first oil from the ACG field was produced from the Chirag platform on November 7, 1997.