Azerbaijan, Baku, March 2 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
In 2011, BP plans to drill and preserve four wells (outstripping drilling) under the Chirag oil project, which envisages increased oil production on the offshore Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli bloc of fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
In 2010 and January 2011, the company drilled and preserved three wells, the report said.
The drilling was carried out by the Dede Gorgud drilling rig.
Under the Chirag oil project, BP plans to continue work on outstripping drilling with the bottom plate previously established on an area this year. The work will be performed with the Dede Gorgud drilling rig.
The plate is designed for drilling 12 wells.
In December 2010-January 2011, three remaining contracts were signed for work at sea, including a contract with the Caspian Shipyard Company to increase the capacity of the barge STB-1, a contract with McDermott Caspian Contractors Inc. On the installation of pipelines and the provision of diving services and a contract with Saspian Pipeline Coating to provide services to cover underwater pipelines.
The Chirag oil project envisages the construction of the new platform West Chirag, the construction of pipelines and work on the deepwater platform Guneshli. The platform will be installed at a depth of 170 meters between the already-running production platforms Chirag and Guneshli. The majority of construction within the Chirag oil project will be implemented in Azerbaijan.
The estimated daily volume of oil production from the West Chirag platform will amount to 183,000 barrels. The expected daily volume of gas production from the new platform will be 229 million standard cubic feet (more than 6.5 million cubic meters). The estimated daily volume of gas injection into the layer on the platform will be 80 million standard cubic feet (about 2.3 million cubic meters).
Outstripping drilling under the project will cover the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2012. The Dede Gorgud rig will perform the drilling.
In total, under the project (until the end of the ACG contract in 2024), 300 million barrels of oil will be produced.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 34.1 percent), Chevron (10.2 percent), SOCAR (10 percent), INPEX (10 percent), StatoilHydro (8.6 percent), ExxonMobil (8 percent), TPAO (6.8 percent), Devon (5.6 percent), ITOCHU (3.9 percent), and Delta Hess (2.7 percent).