BP Azerbaijan suspends work on oil platform in Caspian Sea

The BP company, the project operator for development of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields (ACG), has suspended work at the Chirag platform where it will perform maintenance beginning Nov. 10, the company told Trend Nov. 10.

Under the plan, oil production at the platform has been suspended for 25 days.

“During this period, planned maintenance work, inspection and design work will be carried out, which are necessary for the continuation of safe, reliable and environmentally-friendly operations at the platform,” the company said. “The planning of the program started in early 2014, and this work was included in the annual program work and budget. Suspension of the work at the platform was also provided for in the annual production forecast.”

It is noted that production at the "Central Azeri", "Eastern Azeri", and "Western Azeri" fields, deepwater section of "Guneshli", "West Chirag" and "Shah Deniz" exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the South Caucasus pipeline and the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, will continue as normal. Also, Sangachal Terminal will continue to work and loading at the port of Ceyhan will continue as scheduled.

BP and its partners produced 16 million tons (116 million barrels) of oil at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields in H1 of 2015, which is equal to that of H1 2014.

The contract for development of ACG field was signed in 1994.

The shareholders of the project are: BP (operator in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - 8 percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itocu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent. (Trend.az)