Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
By Matanat Nasibova – Trend:
BP and SOCAR are planning to start implementing the D-230 oil and gas project, which was approved in Azerbaijan in April 2018, Vice President of BP Azerbaijan Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli told Trend.
He noted that seismic work on data from the field has started.
"The cost of the project will be determined after the completion of work in this direction, when we will be able to accurately determine the potential of the field. I suppose that after we come to a decision on the geography of drilling, we will have an idea of the upcoming costs, including the cost of the project," he said.
He further stated that today the bulk of oil production in Azerbaijan falls on the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil and gas field block, and that stability in energy resources will remain by the end of the current year.
"In January-April 2019, Azerbaijan produced 12.4 million tons of oil and gas condensate. Over the same period, the volume of produced gas amounted to almost 11.6 billion cubic meters, including more than 8 billion cubic meters of marketable gas. It is expected that gas production from the Shah Deniz-2 field will increase by the end of this year,” the Vice President said.
Aslanbeyli noted that construction of the Azeri Central East (ACE) offshore platform is expected at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field block (ACG) in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea by the end of the current year.
“The construction of the ACE offshore platform will be launched at the block of ACG fields this year. Commissioning is scheduled for 2023. The platform, which will be the 7th one on the ACG, will produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day," Aslanbeyli said.
He went on to say that the first exploratory drilling from the Shafag-Asiman field is also expected by the end of this year.
In 2018, Azerbaijan produced about 38.76 million tons of oil and gas condensate, which is roughly equal to the figures from 2017.
Gas production for 2018 in Azerbaijan amounted to 30.59 billion cubic meters (a 7.1-percent increase), while marketable gas output reached 19.2 billion cubic meters (a 5.8-percent increase).
A contract for development of ACG was signed in 1994, with the contract set to expire 2024. A new contract for development of the ACG block until 2050 was signed in Baku Sept. 14, 2017.
The new ACG participating interests are as follows: BP - 30.37 percent; AzACG (SOCAR) - 25 percent; Chevron - 9.57 percent; INPEX - 9.31 percent; Statoil - 7.27 percent; ExxonMobil - 6.79 percent; TPAO - 5.73 percent; ITOCHU - 3.65 percent; ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent.
Investments under the new agreement are estimated at $43 billion for the period up to 2050. The volume of oil production is planned at more than 500 million tons.
The Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) complex accounts for two-thirds of Azerbaijan's oil production.
