Azernews.Az

BP Azerbaijan plans to commence the pre-drill program at the Chirag Oil Project (COP), which is part of the BP-operated giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil development in the Caspian Sea, with the Istiglal rig during the second quarter of 2010, the company said Thursday.
BP Azerbaijan moved the COP into execute phase through sanctioning this $6 billion development on March 9. COP is planned to increase oil production and recovery of an additional 360 million barrels of oil from the ACG field through a new offshore facility to be installed between Deepwater Gunashli and Chirag platforms. For the first time in the history of ACG development COP will utilize local resources to the greatest possible extent, and all fabrication works will be done in Azerbaijan, BP Azerbaijan said.
The Istiglal will drill one pre-drill well and one geotechnical borehole for the COP program. Following the template installation the Dada Gorgud will move from Deepwater Gunashli to drill the second COP pre-drill well and all subsequent pre-drill wells starting the third quarter of 2010.
Work is currently underway to finalize some of the major construction awards. In the meantime activities started in some areas in preparation for commencement of fabrication works. Fabrication of the COP pre-drill template, which started at Baku’s Deepwater Jackets factory (BDJF) last December, is progressing on schedule and is currently nearing completion.
Preparations are underway to start site upgrades and associated engineering work. Upgrades to the BDJF factory will allow to complete fabrication of the jacket within the country.
Through its construction contractors BP Azerbaijan currently employs over 800 people and more than 95% per cent of these are Azerbaijani nationals.*