Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.20 / Trend S. Aliyev /
BP (operator of the block of "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" offshore fields' development in Azerbaijan) stopped the operations at the "Eastern Azeri" platform within the planned maintenance program at three offshore platforms in the Caspian Sea scheduled for 2011, the company told Trend on Thursday.
In accordance with the plan, production at three platforms - Eastern Azeri, Western Azeri and Central Azeri will be suspended in a planned sequence to ensure effective maintenance.
The company said all three platforms' activity is not expected to be suspended simultaneously. During the operations in one of the platforms, other two platforms located on the Azeri field, will continue production.
This is a routine maintenance programme and is part of normal operations. The planning for this and other maintenance activities conducted earlier this year started over a year ago and they are included in annual work programmes and budget.
The Azeri maintenance programme workscope will include general mechanical, instrument and control system activities. The platforms will be shut down in a planned sequence with each platform suspended for about 11-15 days. The programme is planned to start around October 20.
Production from the other BP-operated production platforms - Chirag, Deepwater Gunashli (both part of the ACG development) and Shah Deniz, as well as export operations via South Caucasian Gas Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and Baku-Supsa oil pipeline will continue as normal.
The BTC pipeline and the Sangachal Terminal will continue to operate coordinating their day-to-day operations with continuing ACG and Shah Deniz production operations. Liftings at Ceyhan will also continue however with a schedule that reflects the reduction in volume arising from the planned Azeri maintenance shutdowns.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 35.78 %), Chevron (11.27%), AzACG (11.65 %), INPEX (10.96%), Statoil (8.56%), Exxonl (8%), TPAO (6.75%), ITOCHU (4.3%), Hess (2.72%).
