In the first half of 2024, bp and its co-venturers spent about $243 million in operating expenditure and more than $698 million in capital expenditure on ACG activities, bp Azerbaijan told AZERTAC.
In 2024, a new 4-dimensional (4D) high-definition ocean bottom node seismic programme was commenced on ACG. The programme, which focuses on the Balakhany and Fasila reservoirs, covers an area of 740 square kilometres under source and 507 square kilometres under receivers, with a total cost of around $370 million and a duration of five years (2024-2028). This is the largest-ever seismic acquisition commitment made by bp globally by all its aspects – area size, cost and programme duration. The seismic acquisition scope planned for this year has already been completed safely and ahead of schedule; seismic processing of the acquired data is currently ongoing.
In the first six months, the Azeri Central East (ACE) project made a tremendous progress by achieving its main objective – delivery of first oil.
In mid-April oil production started-up from the new ACE platform which is the seventh offshore platform installed on the giant ACG field in the Caspian Sea.
Initial production from ACE came from the first well that was initiated from the platform at the end of last year. Currently production from ACE is around 8,000 barrels per day from one well. It is expected that ACE production will increase through 2024 to around 24,000bpd as two more planned wells are drilled, completed and brought online.
The ACE platform is technologically and digitally the most advanced bp-operated platform in the world. Its innovative engineering allows automation of labour-intensive processes, enabling safer and more efficient operations. The platform has a state-of-the-art fully automated drilling rig. The use of modern technology and new processes also helps lower operational emissions.
The safe start-up of ACE delivers on the first major investment decision made by the ACG partnership since the signing of the extended ACG production sharing agreement in 2017.
During the first half of 2024, ACG continued to safely and reliably deliver stable production. Total ACG production for the first half of 2024 was on average about 336,000 barrels per day (b/d) (about 61 million barrels or 8 million tonnes in total) from the Chirag (22,000 b/d), Central Azeri (96,000 b/d), West Azeri (77,000 b/d), East Azeri (52,000 b/d), Deepwater Gunashli (57,000 b/d), West Chirag (29,000 b/d) and ACE (3,000 b/d) platforms.
At the end of June 2024, 144 oil wells were producing, while 45 were used for water and eight for gas injection.
As part of the ACG annual work programme, a planned maintenance programme (turnaround - TAR) was successfully implemented on the Deepwater Gunashli platform in the second quarter.
During the TAR, production from the Deepwater Gunashli platform was suspended for about 13 days to enable maintenance, inspection and project work to be undertaken efficiently. The programme, which was designed to maintain the long-term ability of the platform to produce in a safe, reliable and environmentally sound way, was completed safely and ahead of schedule.
In the first half of 2024, ACG completed nine oil producer and one water injector wells.
During the first six months of the year, ACG delivered an average of around 6.4 million cubic metres per day of ACG associated gas to the state of Azerbaijan (1.2 billion cubic metres in total), primarily at the Sangachal terminal but also to SOCAR’s Oil Rocks facility. The remainder of the associated gas produced was re-injected for reservoir pressure maintenance.
