Azerbaijan, Baku, May 24 /Trend E.Ismayilov/
Work on the production of drilling equipment for the new platform, built in the frame of Chirag oil project (an increase in oil production unit of the Azerbaijani fields Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli) will be completed by September, the source at oil and gas market told Trend.
The source noted that currently the production of drilling equipment has entered its final stage.
"Installation of the main elements of the drilling equipment is almost completed and the work will be completed by September. Completion of the topsides and drilling equipment is expected to be completed by the end of the year" the source said.
The source added that preparation is held for testing integrated topsides and drilling equipment, which is scheduled to begin in autumn. The infrastructure is prepared at the moment.
Sending of topsides and drilling equipment for the new platform to the sea is scheduled for March 2013.
The construction of the topsides and production drilling equipment is carried out by the consortium of companies Amec - Tekfen-Azfen (ATA), which has already carried out similar work at one of the technological platforms in the frame of ACG project.
The Chirag oil project involves the construction of the new West Chirag platform which will be installed at a depth of 170 metres between the Chirag and Gunashli production platforms.The investments made to the Chirag oil project implementation will hit $6 billion.
An advanced drilling project is planned for the period up till the first half of 2012. This will then be carried out from the Dada Gorgud installation. First production from the platform is scheduled for late 2013. It is planned to produce 300 million barrels of oil until the end of the contract by ACG in 2024.
The contract to develop a large offshore field Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli was signed in 1994.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator - 35.8%), Chevron (11.3%), SOCAR (11.6%), INPEX (11%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), ITOCHU (4.3%), Hess (2.7%).
