Caspian's Central Azeri production begins

BP Group, operator for the 10-company consortium Azerbaijan International Operating Co., began oil production Jan. 13 from Central Azeri (CA) field, part of the Azeri-Chirac-Guneshli (ACG) complex in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Giant ACG, 100 km east of Baku, has reserves of 5.4 bn barrel of oil and is planned as a 30-year development and production project.
CA production, which began from the first of 10 predrilled production wells in 128 metres of water, is expected to average 93,000 bpd of oil this year, with total 2005 CA production forecast at 35 mm barrel. Other predrilled wells are being brought online.

The CA facilities include a 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters (PDQ) platform, a 30-inch oil pipeline to the expanded onshore Sangachal terminal and a 28-inch gas pipeline to the Sangachal gas processing facilities. The development is designed to process 420,000 bpd of oil.
In addition to the PDQ, BP in the third quarter will install a compression and water injection platform in CA, bridge-linked to the PDQ to create a major offshore complex encompassing accommodation, drilling, production, processing, compression, and reinjection facilities.

Processed oil from Sangachal initially will be transported from Sangachal to market via existing export routes and later through the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline when it becomes operational later this year. CA gas will be exported from Sangachal via a newly built gas export pipeline into Azerbaijan's gas system for domestic use.
ACG is being developed in several phases: Chirac has been producing since 1997, now followed by Phase I of Azeri. Phase II Azeri production, to come on stream through two platforms, includes West Azeri slated for 2006 and East Azeri for 2007.

ACG Phase III involves development of the deepwater Guneshli reservoir, now sanctioned and expected to begin production in 2008. Plateau production in 2009 is expected to surpass 1.1 mm bpd.
BP holds 34.1 % of the ACG endeavour. Other consortium participants are Unocal 10.3 %; State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) 10 %; Tokyo-based Inpex 10 %; Statoil 8.6 %; ExxonMobil 8 %; Turkish Oil, i.e., Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (TPAO) 6.8 %; Devon Energy, Oklahoma City, 5.6 %; Japan's Itochu 3.9 %; and Amerada Hess 2.7 %.