Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 30
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
BP’s Azerbaijan operations as "a hotbed of innovation" in detecting and managing sand in well-streams, a worldwide problem that impacts the efficiency of the industry, BP's chief operating officer for production, transformation and carbon, Gordon Birrell, said in an interview with S&P Global Platts, Trend reports on Jan. 30.
“The use of acoustic sensors together with fiber optics in sand detection "was really developed in Azerbaijan," and had been a "major breakthrough," copied elsewhere,” Birrell added.
"The sand particles hit against the fiber optics, create an acoustic fingerprint, which we detect at the surface,” he said. “Then we can adjust the well parameters to hold the sand back."
Gordon Birrell was BP regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in 2012-2017.
Presently, BP is the operator of the biggest oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan, including the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field and the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields.
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