Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The construction of the remote control system for the Sangachal terminal in Azerbaijan is 97 percent complete, bp's Project General Manager for the Azeri Central East (ACE) Project Neal Phillips said during a media tour for journalists, Azernews reports per Trend.

He noted that work is underway to test remote control rooms.

"Upon completion of this project, the commissioning is expected. Besides, the automation of this platform will help accelerate the integration of this terminal with ACE," he said.

Moreover, Neal Phillips stated that the ACE oilfield offshore platform in Azerbaijan is already insured by a London-based international insurance company.

"All the partners of ACE were interested in risk insurance and we received permission from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan for risk insurance in accordance with the international insurance strategy," he said.

Noting that the ACE platform is being built on the basis of the latest technologies, he stated that the implementation of this project will be an example of the construction of a modern platform in the region.

The project's general manager also emphasized that this project will make it possible to produce 300 million barrels of oil products by 2050, that is, to extract the full potential of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli.

"This platform will facilitate gas production at the Central and Eastern platforms. The ACE platform will be equipped with a spare pipeline. In addition, this platform will operate almost completely automated. Both business management processes and production processes will be automated," he said.

He noted that the oil produced from the platform will be transported via a 30-inch pipeline to the Sangachal terminal.

Furthermore, he mentioned that technical work on the platform will be carried out not once every six years, but once every eight years, which will maximize production.

"A 30-inch pipeline will be built for oil transportation and a 22-inch pipeline for gas transportation. A 16-inch pipeline is expected to be built to ensure the platform with water. All of them will be connected to the Sangachal terminal," he said.

Saying that the ACE platform is 95 percent already built, he noted that about 62 percent of pipelines and other mechanical facilities have been put into operation.

"Work continues on connecting pipelines and installing appropriate compressors. After testing, the platform will be put into operation," he said.

Neal Phillips stated that the STB-1 barge is expected to be sent to the offshore field in the first quarter of 2023.

Furthermore, he stated that the oil production on the ACE platform is planned to start in 2024, adding that in the first quarter of 2023, it is planned to begin the installation of the lower part of the platform.

"The upper part of the platform is still under construction. After installing the lower part and preparing the upper part, we’ll proceed with the installation of the upper part. Then we expect to start developing the field in late 2023-early 2024," he said.

The $6 billion project includes a new offshore platform and facilities capable of producing 100,000 barrels of oil per day. It is predicted that 300 million barrels of oil will be produced during the operational period of the platform.

Construction on the project began in July 2019.

As part of the Azeri Central East project, a new 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters platform will be installed between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms at a depth of about 140 meters. The project will also include new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal Terminal.

In addition, there will be a water injection pipeline installed between the East Azeri and ACE platforms to supply injection water from the Central Azeri compression and water injection platform to the ACE facilities.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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