Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 20
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
First oil production from the new platform, to be built and installed on the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields under the new project agreement, may begin in 2023, an official with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has told reporters in Baku.
Under the new agreement, an investment decision regarding the new platform is planned to be made in mid-2019, according to the official.
“The platform will be installed between platforms "Central Azeri" and "East Azeri," and will be named “Central East Azeri”. The total cost of the project, including the platform construction, well drilling, etc, is pre-estimated at $8-9 billion. The first oil can be obtained in 2023.”
The official said construction assessment and pre-FEED (front end engineering design) have already begun.
“The decision was made, finances were allocated and work is underway. It is just a conception, therefore it is too early to speak about production volumes and the number of wells. After the investment decision is made, contracts will be signed and the project’s active stage will start,” the official noted.
SOCAR and its co-venturers agreed to conduct engineering work to assess the construction of an additional production platform on the ACG contract area in the framework of signing a new agreement on the block development until 2050.
Following the ratification of the agreement, the new ACG participating interests will be as follows: BP - 30.37 percent; AzACG (SOCAR) - 25 percent; Chevron - 9.57 percent; INPEX - 9.31 percent; Statoil - 7.27 percent; ExxonMobil - 6.79 percent; TP - 5.73 percent; ITOCHU - 3.65 percent; and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent.