BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.6
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Good progress has been made across multiple areas in Azeri Central East (ACE) platform project, BP Azerbaijan told Trend.
“We have awarded the main engineering, construction, subsea fabrication and installation contracts.
The project has already started construction activities (started in July). These activities have continued to ramp up since then with good progress being made across the multiple areas and fabrication yards involved in this major development project,” said the company.
When coming to the prospects for cooperation between BP and Azerbaijan in the renewable energy sphere, BP said it continues to work with the country’s Ministry of Energy to understand the potential of renewable energy development in Azerbaijan.
A special team has been created in London and Baku for an alternative energy project as part of a memorandum of understanding signed by BP Azerbaijan and the country’s Energy Ministry to jointly study the potential for the development of renewable energy.
In December 2018, BP and Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly explore potential opportunities for development of renewable energy in Azerbaijan.
The memorandum envisages the development of a legal framework for the functioning of this sector.
BP and its partners sanctioned the Azeri Central East Project (ACE) worth $6 billion in April.
The ACE project envisages the construction of the seventh platform at ACG.
Up to 100,000 barrels of oil will be produced daily from the new platform, which will become part of the program for the further development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields.
The first oil production is expected to be launched within the project in 2023. Up to 300 million barrels of oil will be produced from the new platform during the entire period of its operation.
The contract for developing the ACG field was signed in 1994. A ceremony to sign a new contract on development of the ACG block of oil and gas fields was held in Baku Sept. 14, 2017.
The ACG participating interests are 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; ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent.
Hungarian MOL Group has signed an agreement with Chevron Global Ventures Ltd and Chevron BTC Pipeline, Ltd to acquire their non-operated E&P and mid-stream interests in Azerbaijan, including a 9.57 percent stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field, and an effective 8.9 percent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that transports the crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, for total consideration of USD 1.57 billion (subject to adjustments at closing).
The transaction remains subject to government and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by Q2, 2020.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn