By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 18 -- The construction stage of Phase 2 of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) full field development project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea was sanctioned Wednesday by the development project's steering committee. The committee included representatives from the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and from each of the nine foreign companies participating in the project.
Phase 2 of the ACG project, which involves a $5.2 billion development plan, will complete the development of the eastern and western parts of Azeri field. These sections, according to project operator BP PLC, are estimated to contain 1.6 billion bbl of oil. Production is planned for 2006.
Phase 2 marks the second major step for the development scheme, which began after the Early Oil Project started producing an average of 130,000 b/d of oil from the Chirag platform in 1997.
Phase 1 of the ACG project, which received approval in August 2001, covered the central portion of Azeri field. Once completed, production from this section will reach about 1 million b/d of oil in late 2004 or early 2005.
Production from ACG will be transported starting in the first quarter of 2005 through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean Sea coast. Partners for the proposed $2.8 billion BTC pipeline project earlier this year formed the BTC Pipeline Co. to construct, own, and operate the system (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2002).
Phase 3 of ACG will develop deepwater Gunashli field, which is expected to reach production in 2008.
The ACG partners on Phase 2 are BP 34.1%, Unocal Corp. 10.3%, OAO Lukoil 10%, SOCAR 10%, Statoil ASA 8.6%, ExxonMobil Corp. 8%, TPAO (Turkey's state oil company) 6.8%, Devon Ltd. 5.6%, Itochu Corp. 3.9%, and Delta Hess Inc. 2.7
