Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 37 2019

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
BP delays drilling plans off Azerbaijan
AZERBAIJAN
Shortages of rigs are a perennial problem in the Caspian.
BP has had to postpone drilling work at the Shal- low-Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) because a rig is not currently available, sources told FSU OGM on September 13.
Shortages of rigs are a perennial problem in the Caspian Sea, often delaying new exploration projects. Rig manufacturers in the region put investments on hold following the oil price crash of 2014, and now that market conditions have improved, the scarcity has become more acute.
BP had intended to drill first of three wells targeting SWAP’s potential reservoirs, which lies at depths of 3,000 to 5,000 metres, in late 2019. The UK major said before it intended to use the Satti jack-up, on loan from Kazakhstan, to sink the first probe. The vessel arrived in Baku in June, but needs upgrading with additional equipment before it is ready to drill deep wells.
This process is likely to take until March next year, and BP is yet to agree a former contract to use the rig, sources in Azerbaijan told FSU OGM. Delays were caused by “unresolved com- mercial issues” between Azerbaijan’s Caspian Drilling which assumed control of the rig and its
owner, Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunayGas (KMG).
BP signed a production-sharing agreement (PSA) with Azerbaijan’s state-owned SOCAR to explore SWAP back in 2014. The contract area lies along the margins of the Caspian basin to the south of the Absheron peninsula, covering waters 40 metres deep.
The IOC shot 3D seismic surveys at the site in 2016, but did not shore up drilling plans until late 2018, following a modest recovery in oil prices.
BP is exploring a number of new blocks off the coast of Azerbaijan, in the hope of making discoveries similar in scope to the giant Aze- ri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Shah Deniz oil and gas fields. Several of these other projects have also reportedly slipped behind schedule.
However, BP is still on track to drill a first well at the Shafag-Asiman block as planned in the fourth quarter of 2019, sources said. Here the company will use the Heydar Aliyev rig, cur- rently on hire by France’s Total at the Absheron gas field.™
BP reveals contracts for new ACG platform
AZERBAIJAN
The platform will add 100,000 bpd to ACG’s production.
UK supermajor BP has revealed details of the raft of contracts it has signed since taking a final investment decision (FID) on a new platform at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project.
As FSU OGM reported in Week 35, BP has hired a joint venture between Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and Turkey’s Tekfen to fabricate the Azeri East Central (ACE) platform’s topsides for $486.3mn. Since approving the project in April, BP has also recruited the UAE’s Star Gulf FZCO and its joint venture with SOCAR, BOS Shelf, for work on its jacket, the company said on Sep- tember 16. The contract is worth $260mn, and covers shop and erection engineering, rolling of tubulars, fabrication and assembly of the jacket and skirt piles, commissioning of installation systems and load-out and sea-fastening of the facility.
BP has also awarded a $151mn contract to US-based National Oilwell Varco for the engi- neering, procurement and construction (EPC) of topside drilling facilities. The contract’s scope also includes supervision of fabrication, integra- tion, hook-up and commissioning.
In addition, Sweden’s Emtunga Solutions has been handed a $34mn contract for EPC of the
platform’s living quarters, as well as for integra- tion, commissioning and technical support for the facilities.
Meanwhile, a joint venture between SOCAR and US engineering group KBR has bagged a $76mn order for executive engineering of top- sides, the jacket and skirt piles, the ACE project brownfield works, the system design engineer- ing for subsea facilities and project management.
Lastly, the UK’s Trans Global Projects has secured a contract for freight management ser- vices. BP did not disclose the contract’s value, but said it covered collection of the materials and equipment from the suppliers’ locations and their delivery to Baku sites, including customs clearance.
Azeri Central East will join six other plat- forms at the ACG fields. Weighing in at 17,000 tonnes, it will be capable of producing up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil at peak capacity, helping BP to manage output decline. BP operates ACG with a 30.4% stake, while its partners include SOCAR, US majors Chevron and ExxonMobil, Japan’s Inpex and Itochu, Nor- way’s Equinor, Turkish Petroleum and India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). ™
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Week 37 18•September•2019