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Pre-drilling under Chirag oil project to be completed by year-end

1 November 2012 14:12 (UTC+04:00)
Pre-drilling under Chirag oil project to be completed by year-end

The pre-drilling process under the Chirag oil project will be completed by the end of the year, BP Azerbaijan, which acts as the operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields in the Caspian Sea, told Trend news agency.

"Pre-drilling is carried out from the drilling rig Dede Gorgud," the company said.

The jacket of the new platform West Chirag will be sent to the sea after the completion of pre-drilling, and the upper modules will also be sent after its installation, BP said.

BP Azerbaijan also said the process of connecting subsea infrastructure to the existing platform in the deep part of Guneshli field has ended.

"All the works have been completed and work of the platform has been restored. Currently, daily volume of the production at the platform is 110 000 barrels," BP noted.

The company said, in general, ACG daily oil production volume fluctuates in the range of 650-700 thousand barrels.

The company also noted that all work within Chirag oil project are carried out in accordance with the schedule.

The Chirag Oil Project involves the construction of the new West Chirag platform which will be installed at a depth of 170 metres between the Chirag and Gunashli production platforms.The investments made to the project implementation will hit $6 billion. First production from the platform is scheduled for late 2013. Over 300 million barrels of oil are expected to be produced under the Chirag project until the end of the contract on ACG in 2024.

A landmark agreement on developing the ACG fields was signed with 13 energy majors from eight countries in Baku in 1994. ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 35.83%), SOCAR (11.65%), Chevron (11.27%), Inpex (10.96%), Statoil (8.56%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.75%), Itochu (4.3%), and Hess (2.72%). Hess has sold its share in the project to India's ONGC, and the transaction will be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

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