The BP-led Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) on 14 February announced that Phase 1 of its Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli Full Field Development (ACG-FFD) program – the Central Azeri oilfield— came on-stream the previous day. AIOC said that 35mn barrels of crude (an average of 93,000 b/d) will be produce at the Central Azeri platform during 2005. Crude from there will join that from the Chirag oilfield, which has been producing since 1997, to bring AIOC production to an average of 227,000 b/d during 2005, most of which will be dedicated to the soon-to-be completed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude pipeline (MEES, 31 January). BP Associate President in Azerbaijan David Woodward said in a statement released by AIOC that the start of production from the Central Azeri oilfield signaled the “culmination of many years of planning, construction and operations delivery.”
The offshore Central Azeri platform lies approximately 100km east of Baku in 128ms of water. Crude production began from the first of 10 pre-drilled production wells. The Central Azeri facilities consist of a 48-slot production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform, a 30in sub-sea oil pipeline and a 28in sub-sea gas pipeline, each of which runs to the onshore oil and gas processing terminal at Sangachal – recently expanded to 420,000 b/d capacity. During 2005 more facilities will be installed at the Central Azeri location, including a compression and water-injection platform. At Sangachal, some 130,000 b/d of Chirag crude is processed and exported via the Baku-Supsa pipeline. Central Azeri crude will be exported via that route until linefill begins for the BTC pipeline around mid-2005, at which time Azeri Light crude will be directed towards the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Associated gas produced at Central Azeri will either be reinjected or treated at Sangachal from where it will be transferred to the Azerigas system for domestic use.
Phase 2 of ACG-FFD, covering the West Azeri and East Azeri oilfields, is scheduled for completion during 2007. Phase 3, the Deepwater Guneshli oilfield, will come on-stream in 2008 and bring production from the ACG oilfields to 1mn b/d before the end of decade. During the 30-year life of the ACG and BTC projects, some 5.4bn barrels of crude will be recovered and exported. Members in the AIOC consortium participating in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli production-sharing agreement include: BP (operator – 34.1%), Unocal (10.3%), Socar (10%), Inpex (10%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5.6%), Itochu (3.9%) and Amerada Hess (2.7%).
