Project Profile
Location: 120km off the coast of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
Area: 432.4 sq km
Water Depth: 120m
Recoverable Reserves: 5.4 billion barrels
The Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field lies 120km off the coast of Azerbaijan in 120m of water and contains 5.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The overall investment reached US$20billon, which includes the amount spent on the BTC export pipeline. Participants of the huge ACG offshore field include: BP, which is operator with 37.43% of stakes; ChevronTexaco with 11.27%; SOCAR with 10%; INPEX with 10.96%; Statoil with 8.56%; ExxonMobil with 8%; TPAO with 6.75%; Itochu with 4.3%; and Delta Hess with 2.72%. The production sharing agreement was signed in September 1994. The Chirag early oil project (EOP) is a single offshore platform, producing over 125,000bpd. Production began in November 1997 and the field will reach the end of its productive life by 2024. The Central, West and East Azeri complexes were developed under phases I and II, and the Deepwater Gunashli section was developed under phase III. Chirag-1 is an offshore production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform located 120km east of Baku in the Caspian Sea. The Chirag facilities include a 24-slot PDQ platform with water-injection equipment, a 176km-long 24in oil pipeline to the receiving terminal at Sangachal, a 48km-long 16in gas pipeline to the oil rocks, a 12km-long 18in gas pipeline to Central Azeri, and a compression and water injection platform. The Chirag platform has both production and water-injection wells, which will increase oil recovery.
Crude comes ashore by pipeline to the Sangachal terminal south of Baku. Most is carried in the 850km western export pipeline which has a capacity of 140,000pd (peak 160,000) to the Georgian port of Supsa on the Black Sea. Some portions of the oil from Sangachal is also exported via a northern pipeline to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Tankers are used to ship the crude from Supsa and Novorossiysk. The front end engineering and design contract for COP was awarded to KBR in March 2009. In July 2010, BOS Shelf, a joint venture between Saipem and Socar, was awarded a US$215m contract for fabrication of the jacket and subsea template of the new platform. The ATA consortium consisting of AMEC, Tekfen Holding and Azfen won a US$340m contract to provide fabrication, assembly, hook-up and commissioning services for the platform. Kellogg Brown & Root won a $150m contract for engineering of the offshore infrastructure. Saipem will be responsible for transportation and installation of the subsea template under a US$57m contract. The living quarters of the platform will be fabricated by Apply Leirvik Emtunga under a US$22m contract.
Operators:
BP: Operator with 37.43% interest
Chevron: 11.27% interest
SOCAR: 10.00% interest
Inpex: 10.96% interest
Statoil: 8.56% interest
ExxonMobil: 8.00% interest
TPAO: 6.75% interest
Itochu: 4.30% interest
onGC Videsh: 2.72% interest (after Hess farmed out 1Q 2013)
Contractors:
Apply Leirvik Emtunga: Living quarters of the platform
Aquaterra Energy: Design and install 260 centralisers
KBR: FEED contract for Chirag Oil Project and EPC of the offshore infrastructure.
Joint Venture for fabrication of the jacket and subsea template of the new platform:
Saipem
SOCAR
ATA consortium to provide fabrication, assembly, hook-up and commissioning services for the platform:
AMEC
Tekfen Holding
Azfen
Saipem: Transportation and installation of the subsea template
EnerMech: 12 month extension of a five year cranes and lifting contract by BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Ltd. The contract, which includes a further two one-year options, will see mechanical engineering group EnerMech continue to provide cranes operation and maintenance personnel, materials, equipment, engineering and mechanical handling services for up to another three years. The contract covers all seven BP-operated platforms in the Caspian Sea and 16 offshore pedestal cranes operating in the Chirag, West Chirag, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and deepwater Gunashli platforms, as well as the Shah Deniz gas development project. The original five year contract was valued at approximately US$50 million (£33 million) and the extended agreement will generate a further US$10 million (£6.5 million) per annum for EnerMech.
KCA Deutag: Two contracts with BP Exploration (Caspian Sea). These contracts have a combined value of approx. US$360m for the initial contract or US$1bn including all options. (December, 2015)
- The first contract has been awarded to its offshore division and is for the operations and maintenance of seven platforms operated by BP in the Caspian Sea pursuant to Product Sharing Agreements. These are the East, West and Central Azeri, Deepwater Gunashli, West Chirag, Chirag and Shah Deniz installations. The initial term is for three years with two three year extension options.
- The second contract has been awarded to RDS, KCA Deutag’s engineering and design specialist, and is for engineering support services on all drilling packages for projects in the Caspian Sea that are operated by BP from the Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Turkey Region. This contract is effective from 1st December 2015 to 30th September 2017 with two extension options of one year each.
Datum360: Contract by BP to deliver a data warehouse to Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Guneshli (ACG) project. As part of its contract Datum360 has implemented its standard engineering data warehouse - PIM360 - which has created a central point for collecting standardised engineering information, and as such increased the company’s operational efficiency through eliminating the use of multiple software tools. (January, 2016)
Geological & Assistance Services (GAS): Appointed to perform survey and positioning support activities. The award was given to GAS’ Azerbaijan Branch as part of the frame agreement awarded by Saipem for the provision of survey services in Azerbaijan till the end of 2017. The scope of work concerns the laying of 8.33 km of the 18” water injection pipeline and installation of tie-in spools in the Azeri Chirag and Gunashli (ACG) fields. GAS will carry out pipelay support, prelay survey, as-laid survey, as-built survey and spools metrology. The project will start in March 2016 and will take approximately four months. (February, 2016)
Wood Group:
- Won a new five year contract with BP-operated projects, valued at US$500 million, to deliver services to eight facilities, offshore Azerbaijan. Effective immediately, Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) will provide engineering, procurement and construction management services (EPCM) under the contract, which has the option of two, two year extensions. (May, 2016)
- Secured engineering services, pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED), and FEED engineering services. (February, 2017)