bp has announced the commencement of drilling for the first oil production well from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea.
This marks a significant milestone in the $6 billion ACE project, which is the next stage of development for the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field.
The well, which will be up to 3,188 meters deep, is expected to take approximately three months to complete. The drilling process will be closely monitored and controlled to ensure safety and efficiency.
“We are excited to commence drilling the first platform production well on ACE. This allows us to meet our first oil production target for ACE and deliver it in early 2024. A great deal of preparation has been made to ensure a safe and robust drilling program using our experience, as well as our innovative approach, automated processes, and advanced technology. We look forward to delivering this first ACE production well, safely, efficiently, and on schedule,” said Gary Jones, bp’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.
The ACE platform is a new 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters platform located midway between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms at a water depth of 137 meters.
The ACE platform and facilities are designed to process up to 100,000 bbl/d of oil. The project is expected to produce up to 300 million bbl over its lifetime, as bp said in a press release.
The project, worth $6 billion, includes 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.
Notably, bp holds a 30.37% operator interest share in the ACG production agreement, originally signed in 1994 and extended in 2017 to last until 2049.
Other partners in the agreement include Socar/AzACG (25%), Chevron (9.57%), Inpex (9.31%), Equinor (7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO (5.73%), Itochu (3.65%), and ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) (2.31%).
