BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 13. The drilling of a well from the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform is expected to be launched in October this year, head of bp Azerbaijan's public relations department Tamam Bayatli said during a media tour of Sangachal terminal, Trend reports.
According to her, the installation of the superstructure of the new platform at sea at the project site is currently ongoing.
"We plan to receive the first oil from the new platform at the beginning of 2024," she added.
The ACE platform and facilities are designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The project is expected to produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime.
The platform will be remotely controlled from Sangachal Terminal and include an innovative automation system.
The ACE project is centered on a new 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters platform located midway between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 meters. The project will also include new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal terminal.
The production sharing agreement (PSA) for developing the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields was signed in September 1994 for a period of 30 years.
In 2017, the Azerbaijani government and the country’s State Oil Company (SOCAR), together with bp, Chevron, INPEX, Statoil, ExxonMobil, TP, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh signed the amended and restated agreement on the joint development and production sharing for the Azeri, Chirag fields and the deepwater part of the Gunashli Field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea until 2050.
Interests in the ACG block of fields: bp (30.37 percent), SOCAR (25 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), and ONGCVidesh (2.31 percent).