Azernews.Az

Oil production has started from the Deep Water Gunashli (DWG) field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea as scheduled, the BP-operated consortium, Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), said on Tuesday.
Start-up of the DWG complex completes the third phase of development of the offshore Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field.
The DWG complex is located in a water depth of 175 meters on the east side of the Gunashli field. The complex comprises two platforms - a drilling and production platform bridge linked to a water injection and gas compression platform.
Production will increase through 2008 as other pre-drilled wells are brought on-stream, prior to commencing platform drilling. On plateau, the DWG complex will produce about 320,000 barrels per day, bringing total ACG oil production, including Chirag, East Azeri, West Azeri and Central Azeri, to over 1 million barrels per day.
"The start up of the DWG complex is an achievement we can all be proud of", said Bill Schrader, BP's President in Azerbaijan. "This achievement maintains our track record of on schedule project delivery for the development of the ACG field."
The ACG Production Sharing Agreement, signed in September 1994, covers the 30-year development of the ACG contract area. The field has been developed in several phases: Chirag has been producing since 1997 as part of the Early Oil Project (EOP). This was followed by Azeri Project Phase 1 - Central Azeri production in early 2005. Successive Phase 2 included West Azeri, which started production in January 2006, and East Azeri, which started production in October 2006. The ACG Phase 3 - Deepwater Gunashli - has just started up.
ACG participating interests are BP (operator - 34.1%), Chevron (10.2%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (10%), StatoilHydro (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5.6%), ITOCHU (3.9%), and Hess (2.7%).