A BP subsidiary working in the Caspian Sea announced on August 16, 2016, it reached a landmark for oil pulled from Azeri waters with its 3 billionth barrel.
Namely, the day marked the 3 billionth barrel of oil produced since the start of production from the Chirag platform in 1997.
«This is a significant milestone for both BP and for Azerbaijan and it is thanks to huge efforts by all individuals and teams involved. I would like to thank everybody who made this day happen,» said Gordon Birrell, BP regional president for Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey.
ACG is a complex of six production platforms: Chirag-1, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri, Deepwater Gunashli, West Chirag; and two process, gas compression, water injection and utilities (PCWU) platforms, equipped with latest technologies.
The ACG field has been developed in several phases: The Chirag platform started producing in 1997 as part of the Early Oil Project. This was followed by Phase 1, the Azeri Project, during which production started from the Central Azeri platform in early 2005. Phase 2 included West Azeri and East Azeri, starting production in December 2005 and in late 2006 respectively. The next ACG development phase – Phase 3 Deepwater Gunashli – started up in April 2008.
The last phase in the series to date was the Chirag Oil Project, which was sanctioned in 2010. As part of this phase, the West Chirag platform was installed between the existing Chirag and Deepwater Gunashli platforms. First oil from the platform was achieved on 28 January 2014.
BP is the operator of Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields. Its share in the project is 35.78 percent. The geological oil reserve of ACG exceeds 2 billion tons, of which over 1 billion tons are recoverable reserves.
