Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 24th / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
In May and June of 2013 within the Chirag Oil Project (increases in oil production at "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli") topsides of a new platform will be included to the contract, source in the oil and gas market informed Trend.
According to him, all construction and installation work is almost completed and currently adjustment work is being undertaken.
"Everything will be ready by May, and in May-June the topsides will be sent to the sea," he stressed.
The construction of the topsides and the production of drilling equipment for the platform are undertaken by a consortium of companies Amec-Tekfen-Azfen (ATA), which has already served a similar job at a technology platform in the ACG.
The Chirag Oil Project involves the construction of the West Chirag Platform, which will be installed at a depth of 170 meters between the already-running production platforms "Chirag" and "Guneshli".
Chirag oil project envisages an investment of $6 billion.
Forward-drilling within the project is to start in the first half of next year. The drilling will be carried out from "Dada Gorgud". First production from the platform is scheduled for late 2013.
In total, within the project more than 300 million barrels of oil is expected to be produced (until the end of the contract on ACG in 2024).
The contract on the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli full field development was signed in 1994.
Participants of the project to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli are: BP (operator - 35.83 percent), Chevron (11.27 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.6 percent), Statoil (8.56 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itocu (4.3 percent) and Hess (2.72 percent). Hess sold its share to Indian ONGC, the transaction will be completed in the first quarter of 2013.
