Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

British BP has released its report on the results of the first half of 2015.

The company reported on August 10 that the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea continued to deliver stable production in the first half of 2015.

Total ACG production in the first six months was on average 641,000 barrels per day (116 million barrels or 16 million tons in total) from the Chirag (55,000 bpd), Central Azeri (157,000 bpd), West Azeri (107,000 bpd), East Azeri (71,000 bpd), Deepwater Gunashli (145,000 bpd) and West Chirag (106,000 bpd) platforms.

At the end of the second quarter, 87 oil wells were producing, while 40 wells were used for gas or water injection.

During the first half of 2015, ACG delivered nine oil producer wells and one water injector.

ACG also delivered an average of 11.4 million cubic meters per day of ACG associated gas to SOCAR (2.1 billion cubic meters in total), primarily at the Sangachal Terminal but also to SOCAR’s Oil Rocks facility. The remainder of the associated gas produced was mainly re-injected for reservoir pressure maintenance.

The ACG block of fields has been active since 1997. Production started from the Chirag part of the field. It was followed successfully by Azeri Project; Central Azeri production in February 2005, West Azeri in December 2005, and East Azeri in October 2006.

The Deepwater Gunashli section launched production in April 2008.

ACG participating interests are: BP (operator – 35.8 percent), SOCAR (11.6 percent), Chevron (11.3 per cent), INPEX (11 percent), Statoil (8.6 percent), ExxonMobil (8 percent), TPAO (6.8 percent), ITOCHU (4.3 percent), ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) (2.7 percent).

BP also said that the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Caspian Sea continued to provide reliable deliveries of gas to markets in Azerbaijan (to SOCAR), Georgia (to GOGC), BTC Company and Turkey (to BOTAS).

In the first six months of 2015, the field produced 5.2 billion standard cubic meters of gas and 1.2 million tons (about 9.8 million barrels) of condensate.

The existing Shah Deniz facilities’ production capacity is currently 29.5 million standard cubic meters of gas per day or around 10 bcma.

During the first half of 2015, Shah Deniz spent approximately $0.25 billion in operating expenditure and $2.26 billion in capital expenditure, the majority of which was associated with the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project.

The Shah Deniz field, one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Europe.

Shah Deniz participating interests are: BP (operator – 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NICO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).

BP went on to add that in the first half of 2015, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline exported about 135 million barrels (18 million tons) of crude oil loaded on 188 tankers at Ceyhan.

BTC spent approximately $73 million in operating expenditure and $15 million in capital expenditure in the reported period.

BTC’s throughput capacity is currently 1.2 million bpd.

The 1,768-kilometer BTC pipeline became operational in June 2006. Since that time BTC has carried a total of 2.23 billion barrels (around 298 million tons) of crude oil loaded on 2,940 tankers and sent to world markets.

The BTC pipeline currently carries mainly ACG oil and Shah Deniz condensate from Azerbaijan. In addition, crude oil from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan continues to be transported via BTC.

The BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1 percent); AzBTC (25 percent); Chevron (8.9 percent); Statoil (8.71 percent); TPAO (6.53 percent); ENI (5 percent); Total (5 percent), ITOCHU (3.4 percent); INPEX (2.5 percent), ConocoPhillips (2.5 percent) and ONGC (BTC) Limited (2.36 percent).

In the first half, South Caucasus Pipeline’s daily average throughput was 20.34 million cubic meters of gas per day.

SCP spent about $22 million in operating expenditure and $559 million in capital expenditure in the reported period.

The pipeline has been operational since late 2006, transporting Shah Deniz gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The SCP Co. shareholders are: BP (28.8 percent), AzSCP (10 percent), SGC Midstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NICO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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