Azerbaijan, Baku, June 2 / Trend , E.Ismaylov /
Construction of a new platform within the Chirag oil project (COP), which envisages increasing oil production at the block of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) fields, is scheduled to begin in late 2010 - early 2011, said Technical Director of Azerbaijani office Turkish oil company (TPAO) Gokan Aydinoglu said.
"Currently work is carried out on detailed engineering, and after its completion, construction work will begin. The construction of the platform is planned to begin in late 2010 - early 2011," said Aydinoglu.
Aydinoglu said that the project is expected to get oil in 2013.
Of the total investment, which TPAO plans to put in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan, about $400-500 million will fall on this project, said Aydinoglu.
The cost of this project is estimated at $10 billion. "But within several years, the prices of construction materials can change. Some amendments can be made to decrease or increase the cost of the project," senior official of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) said formerly.
The project may be sanctioned in late 2009. At present, the American KBR company is designing the COP. The American company will design new platform to be installed in the ACG. KBR has designed all previous phases of the development of the Azeri-Chiraq-Gunashli fields.
The COP, which envisages processing platform to be installed between Chirag-1 and DWG platforms, will enable to increase daily oil production in ACG up to 100,000 barrels. It is reckoned that the new Chirag Oil Project (COP) will add more than 300 million barrels of crude oil to the pipeline during the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) period.
The COP will consist of a new 48-slot drilling. The new platform design will be based on the previous successful platforms at ACG. It will be constructed based on the model of East Azeri platform.
The project will use existing infrastructure such as the offshore 30-inch oil export lines and 28-inch gas export lines plus the processing equipment at Sangachal.
The oil reserves of the project are estimated at 331 million barrels. As many as 28 producing wells and 17 pressure wells will be drilled from a new platform. The construction of the new platform is expected to end in 2013. The oil production will be launched in Q3 of 2013.
Advance boring is performed with Dada Gorgud floating drilling unit to speed up realization of the project.
Installation of new platforms in the ACG is important for the development of the Balakhany Svita. Two more platforms must be constructed for this purpose. One of the platforms will cover Chiraq and Deep-Water Gunashli and second - West, East and Central Azeri.
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