Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 23 / Trend /
BP as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field is pleased to announce that the construction of the jacket for the West Chirag platform is fully complete as part of the 6-billion dollar Chirag Oil Project (COP). The heaviest jacket ever built in the Caspian was safely loaded out onto the transportation barge STB-1 at the quayside of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF) during the weekend.
The jacket will remain there through the remaining months of this year to allow the Dada Gorgud to complete the pre-drill activities commenced in 2010. The sail away for offshore installation is planned for early 2013.
"I am very proud of achieving this major milestone which has brought us a step closer to the First Oil from COP planned for the 4th quarter of 2013," Rashid Javanshir, BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said. "The load-out activities have been accomplished very successfully and most importantly in the safest possible way. This makes me feel confident that the rest of the COP project including the West Chirag platform, which is on track for 2013, will be delivered equally successfully. I am also proud that for the first time in the history of the ACG development COP has utilised local resources to the greatest possible extent and all fabrication works are done in Azerbaijan."
"Achievement of this milestone clearly shows that we remain committed to creating and maintaining a project production line in Azerbaijan. We believe COP, as a major new investment committed by ACG partners, will enable us to maximize recovery from the area between the Deepwater Gunashli and existing Chirag platforms. Before COP, we built six world-class offshore platforms on ACG and have so far safely and efficiently operated them to benefit the Azerbaijani nation and our partners. I would like to take this opportunity to once again highlight that we remain committed to delivering world-class business in the Caspian".
The construction of the West Chirag jacket commenced in 2010 and was completed on schedule during the fourth quarter of 2012. During this period over 2000 people including sub contractors and specialist vendors, were involved in the construction works. Some 96% of the workforce was Azerbaijan nationals. The jacket was constructed by the local company BOS Shelf, now fully owned by SOCAR, who have used local construction infrastructure at BDJF facilities.
"COP is yet another opportunity for BP to maintain its commitment to optimise the use of Azerbaijan's local resources," Bruce Luberski, Vice-President, Azerbaijan Major Projects, said. "The project is expected to utilize over 20 million man-hours during construction work with 90% of this work being undertaken in Azerbaijan and of this over 90% being carried out by local workforce. Additionally, the contractors have been encouraged to make maximum use of local subcontractors and over 30% of the total COP spend is expected to be used in Azerbaijan. Taking this opportunity I would like to thank BOS Shelf, for their continued commitment to meet BP's standards and I would like to congratulate SOCAR on this first major delivery by their company."
The jacket has a total weight of 18,200 tons (which includes 1500 tons of floatation tanks) and is about 185 metres high. It is comprised of 13 piles (12 plus one spare) with a total weight of 6700 tons, seven risers, eight j-tubes and ten caissons. It will be installed at a water depth of about 170 metres.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 35.8%), Chevron (11.3%), SOCAR (11.6%), INPEX (11%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), ITOCHU (4.3%), Hess (2.7%).