Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli

Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli
Location of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli
Country	Azerbaijan
Region	Caspian Sea
Offshore/onshore	Offshore
Coordinates	40°1′4″N 51°15′58″E / 40.01778°N 51.26611°E / 40.01778; 51.26611Coordinates: 40°1′4″N 51°15′58″E / 40.01778°N 51.26611°E / 40.01778; 51.26611
Operator	AIOC
Partners	BP, Chevron, SOCAR, INPEX, Statoil, ExxonMobil, TPAO, Devon Energy, Itochu, ONGC Videsh Ltd
Field history
Discovery	1985
Start of production	1997
Peak year	2010
Production
Current production of oil	684,000 barrels per day (~3.41×10^7 t/a)
Year of current production of oil	2012
Current production of gas	10×10^6 m3/d (350×10^6 cu ft/d)
Estimated oil in place	5,000 million barrels (~6.8×10^8 t)

Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli (ACG) (Azerbaijani: Azəri-Çıraq-Günəşli) is a large complex of oil fields in the Caspian Sea, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) off the coast of Azerbaijan. An overall estimated area of the field is 432.4 square kilometres (167.0 sq mi).^[1] It is operated by a BP-led consortium. The ACG fields have estimated recoverable reserves of about 5 to 6 billion barrels (790×10^⁶ to 950×10^⁶ m³) of petroleum. As of the end of 2005, the production rate from eight pre-drilled wells at the platform was approximately 240,000 barrels per day (38,000 m³/d).^[2]

The peak of oil production, 835,000 barrels per day, was reached in third quarter of 2010. In the first quarter of 2012 oil production was about 710,000 barrels per day.^[3]

BP reports that crude oil from ACG is exported through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea and the Baku-Supsa Pipeline to Supsa in Georgia, as well as through the Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline to Novorossiysk in Russia. It is also believed that there are large untapped gas reserves under ACG oilfields which can be used for the planned Nabucco pipeline.^[4] Media reports indicate that according to American Consulting Association IHS CERA (Cambridge Energy Research Associates), the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli field is the third largest field out of 20 listed. Total investment is estimated at $20 billion.^[5] As of 2008 reports, oil coming from ACG field accounts to nearly 80% of Azerbaijan's total oil output^[6] and is expected to bring Azerbaijan potentially $80 billion in profits^[7]

Ownership

Shareholders of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli offshore field include BP with 34.1367% of stakes, ChevronTexaco - 10.2814%, SOCAR - 10%, INPEX - 10%, Statoil - 8.5633%, ExxonMobil - 8.006%, TPAO - 6.75%, Devon Energy - 5.6262%, Itochu - 3.9205% and Hess - 2.7213%. Russia's Lukoil oil company pulled out of the project in 2003 selling all of its interest to INPEX. The deal was sealed for $1.354 billion.^[8] On 23 November 2009, Devon Energy announced it would sell its share in ACG and other international projects and would mainly focus on its domestic operations.^[9] On 29 March 2013, Hess sold its stake to ONGC for USD 1 billion.^[10]

The production sharing agreement was signed by the parties on 20 September 1994 for development of the field for 30 years.^[2][11][12] The day of the signing of PSA agreement is celebrated as The Day of Oilworkers in Azerbaijan.^[1] BP with major stake in the ownership is leading the AIOC consortium.^[13]

Stages of development

The development of the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli field was split into three main stages which were to be completed by 2008:

• 1st stage - development of Chirag field which was completed and became operational in 1997. It was also known as the Early Oil Project (EOP)
• 2nd stage consisted of three phases:
  • Phase I - development of the Central Azeri platform - in operation since February 2005
  • Phase II - development of the West Azeri field - in operation since December 2005
  • Phase III - development of the East Azeri field - in operation since November 2006
• 3rd stage - construction of deep-water Gunashli platform - in operation since April 2008^[13]

Production

With 3 stages completed and 7 operational platforms functional, total production from Azeri-Chirag Guneshli is more than 1 million barrels (160,000 m³) a day.^[11] During the first three quarters of 2009, over 224 million barrels (35.6×10^⁶ m³) of oil were produced from the Chirag, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and Deep Water Gunashli platforms. As per BP's report, Chirag had 19 wells in operation (13 of which are oil producers and 6 - water injectors) with an overall production of 105,300 bbl/d (16,740 m³/d). Central Azeri (CA) had 18 wells (13 of which are oil producers and 5 - gas injectors) with production of 185,800 bbl/d (29,540 m³/d). West Azeri (WA) had 18 wells in operation (14 of which are oil producers and 4 - water injectors with production of 275,200 barrels per day (43,750 m³/d). East Azeri (EA) had 13 wells in operation (9 of which are oil producers and 4 - water injectors) with an overall production 139,400 barrels per day (22,160 m³/d) for the first three quarters of 2009. Deep Water Gunashli (DWG) had 17 wells (9 oil producers and 8 water injectors) in operation with production of 116,400 barrels per day (18,510 m³/d) of oil.^[15]

Azerbaijan also gets approximately 10-11 million cubic meters of casing head gas per day extracted from ACG block. The gas is supplied by BP free of charge. Azerbaijan received over 1 billion cubic meters of gas from these fields in the 1st quarter of 2009. Current recovery comes to nearly 27 million cubic meters of casing head gas a day. A portion of gas is routed to national gas transportation system of Azerbaijan. Some is used as source of fuel at the platforms.

Casing head gas from platforms in central, western and eastern parts of Azeri field is supplied to Sangachal terminal via 28 inch subsea gas pipeline to distributive system of Azerigaz CJSC to use on the local market. A portion of casing head gas extracted at Chirag platform is directed to SOCAR's compressor station (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) to Oil Rocks field via 16 inch subsea gas pipeline. The rest of the gas from Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli platforms are pumped through intra field subsea gas pipeline to a platform for repeated pumping in a layer to support layer pressure.^[16] As of September 2009, 164.2 million tonnes of oil and 37 billion cubic meters of associated gas have been produced and 80.3 million cubic meters of water and 13 billion cubic meters of gas have been injected into layers since the beginning of production in ACG fields in 1997.^[17]

Routes of transportation

The oil from the ACG field was pumped to Sangachal terminal south of Baku and from there routed to foreign markets by Baku-Supsa pipeline, Baku–Novorossiysk pipeline and Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline.^[11] An interactive map shows all current export routes.

See also

• Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline
• Baku-Supsa pipeline
• Baku–Novorossiysk pipeline
• Shah Deniz gas field
• South Caucasus Pipeline
• Sangachal Terminal

References

External links

• Production Sharing Agreement for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field
• Image showing ACG fields

Energy in Azerbaijan Oil and Gas Onshore Absheron fields Offshore Absheron ACG Azeri Alov Ashrafi Babek Bahar Chirag Dan Ulduzu Darwin Bank Gum Deniz Gunashli Karabakh Nakhchivan Shafag-Asiman Shah Deniz Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula Umid Pipelines Baku-Novorossiysk Baku-Supsa Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Kazi Magomed-Astara-Abadan Mozdok-Makhachkala-Kazi Magomed Trans-Caspian Trans-Caspian Oil Transport System Oil refineries Baku Oil Refinery Plant Energy companies AIOC Azerenerji Azpetrol Branobel Caspian International Petroleum Company North Absheron Operating Company SOCAR Hydroelectric Araz Mingechevir Sarsang Shamkir Yenikend See also Ministry of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan