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BP begins production at major offshore Azerbaijan platform

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UK-based energy company BP has announced that it has started crude oil production at its new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform.

This is located in Azerbaijan’s portion of the Caspian Sea. The ACE platform is situated over the huge Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field, which BP operates on behalf of a consortium.

The ACG project has produced more than 4.3 billion barrels of crude oil since it commenced production in 1997, and the new ACE platform is the seventh on the field. BP, which also makes the Castrol metalworking and lubricant range, also operates two other platforms in the Caspian Sea on the Shah Deniz gas field.

The regional president responsible for Azerbaijan at BP, Gary Jones, said about the development:

“This successful start-up is testament to the ongoing collaboration between BP, SOCAR and the Government of Azerbaijan, together with the support of our partners. First oil from ACE, in the year of the thirtieth anniversary of the agreement to develop ACG, marks the beginning of this world-class field’s next development phase.”

BP claims that the new ACE platform is the most digitally and technologically advanced platform that it operates anywhere in the world.

Labour-intensive processes have been automated through innovative engineering to achieve new levels of efficiency and safety, as well as reduced emissions. The drilling rig is fully automated, and in a first for BP, the platform can be operated fully from onshore.

Production on the platform is expected to ramp up to 24,000 barrels per day this year as a further two wells start producing.

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