Since the start of production in November 1997 Chirag, a part of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields, has produced 326 million barrels (over 44 million tonnes) of Azeri Light oil, BP announced.
During the first eleven months of 2005, the platform produced about 48 million barrels (about 6.5 million tonnes) of oil, which reflects the good production performance. Chirag has operated with very few interruptions since the commencement of development drilling and first oil production in 1997. It currently employs about 250 people of whom over 85% are Azerbaijan nationals.
Since the beginning of this year the production activities on Chirag have continued in accordance with the plan for 2005 with an operating efficiency exceeding 96%. This year Chirag’s average production rate is expected to be in excess of 140,000 barrels per day with a peak rate of about 160,000 barrels per day.
As to Azeri field today the production rate from eight pre-drilled wells is approximately 240,000 barrels per day. The platform’s operating efficiency year to date is 90% which is an excellent delivery in the first year of operation. By the end of November, total production from Central Azeri had been about 39 million barrels (about 5.3 million tonnes). Production will continue to ramp-up through 2006 as the remaining pre-drilled production wells are brought online followed by platform drilling.
Associated gas from Central Azeri continues to be delivered to the Azerbaijan state from the Sangachal Terminal via a new gas export pipeline connecting the Terminal gas processing facilities and Azerigas’s national grid system.
By the end of this year we expect to deliver in excess of 750 million standard cubic meters of gas from Sangachal to Azerbaijan in 2005.
In the future, gas produced from Central Azeri, beyond that which is re-injected for reservoir pressure maintenance or used for fuel, will continue to be exported via the 28” subsea pipeline into the Sangachal Terminal and via the new gas export pipeline into the Azerigas system for domestic use.
The associated gas produced from the Chirag platform has continued to be sent to the SOCAR compression station at the Oil Rocks via the existing 16” subsea gas pipeline. The remainder of the Chirag associated gas will be sent to the Central Azeri compression and water injection platform (C&WP) once it is operational in the first quarter of 2006, for re-injection into the Azeri reservoir. The C&WP operations will enable us to stop routinely flaring gas on the Chirag platform.
The company expects to deliver in excess of 1000 million standard cubic meters of gas from Chirag to Azerbaijan in 2005.
To date the AIOC have delivered 1.7 billion standard cubic meters of associated gas to Azerbaijan in total from the Chirag and Central Azeri platforms in 2005.