News
BP Caspian
Oil production from the new West Chirag platform in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea started in January 2014. The platform was commissioned for the $6-billion Chirag oil project in 2010 as part of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field development.
More than $4 billion was allocated to construction of facilities and the pre-drill program, with the remainder being spent on platform development well drilling. The investment is designed to optimize recovery from the ACG field and the entire platform was fabricated in Azerbaijan using local resources.
The West Chirag facility has been installed in around 170 m (558 ft) of water between the existing Chirag and Deepwater Gunashli platforms. Its oil-handling capacity is 183,000 b/d and its gas export capacity is 285 MMcf/d (8 MMcm/d). As part of their continued support of BP-operated projects offshore Azerbaijan, Wood Group contracted ABLE to supply level gauges & transmitters for installation on West Chirag’s produced water system. For the degasser, ABLE provided their “Fusion” level gauge, which combines the operation of a float operated magnetic level indicator with a guided wave radar to offer two independent proven level technologies in one system. ABLE also specified a guided wave radar transmitter for discrete continuous measurement on the same process. All wetted parts, including the special design chamber for the Fusion, were manufactured in Hastelloy. Oil produced from the J05 well will be processed onboard and then exported to the Sangachal Terminal via a new infield pipeline linked to an existing 30-in. subsea export pipeline. Production will ramp up as the other pre-drilled wells are brought online. Gordon Birrell, BP’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said: “West Chirag is the eighth world-class offshore platform that we have built and operated in a safe and efficient manner in the Caspian. To date the ACG field has produced over 2.3 Bbbl of oil and with future continual major investments in new technologies and facilities…it will continue to produce…for many decades.” Partners in the ACG development are BP (operator – 35.8%), SOCAR (11.6%), Chevron (11.3%), INPEX (11%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), ITOCHU (4.3%), and ONGC Videsh (2.7%).