Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 06 2021

FSUOGM PERFORMANCE FSUOGM

BP chalks up 2020 progress

in Azerbaijan

AZERBAIJAN BP’S flagship Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil Shah Deniz is currently flowing more than
project in Azerbaijan pumped out some 477,000 56 mcm per day of gas, equivalent to 20 bcm in
The company is waiting barrels per day of crude in 2020, marking a sig- a year.
for a rig to be upgraded nificant decline from the 535,000 bpd it pro- BP and the field’s other partners spent over
to drill at the SWAP duced a year earlier, owing to OPEC+ cuts. $1bn in operational and $942mn in capital
area. Like many other major oilfields in Azerbai- expenditure last year, while the group at ACG
jan, ACG was forced to rein in supply after the allocated over $531mn and $1.82bn in opera-
country agreed on co-ordinated cuts with other tional and capital spending respectively.
OPEC+ members last April to rebalance the oil BP also made some exploration progress
market. ACG also delivered 6mn cubic metres in Azerbaijan, although the work was initiated
(mcm) per day, or a total of 2.2bn cubic metres, before the oil price crash. The company started
of associated gas, BP said in a statement last drilling its first exploration probe at the Shaf-
week. This gas was sold to state-owned SOCAR. ag-Asiman offshore block in January last year,
BP is awaiting the launch of a 100,000 bpd and that well has now reached a depth of 5,305
seventh platform in 2023, expected to slow the metres. It also completed a 3D seismic survey at
pace of ACG’s production decline. the D230 block last March, and interpretation is
The UK major’s other main focus in Azerbai- continuing.
jan is the Shah Deniz gas field, which saw out- BP is devising plans for three more wells tar-
put rise to 18.1bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas and geting the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula
29mn barrels of condensate last year, up from area, but is waiting for a rig to be upgraded. Once
16.8 bcm and 28.6mn barrels in 2019. this is done, drilling should start in the second
Shah Deniz began flowing gas to consumers quarter of 2021.
in southern Europe at the start of this year, after BP has scaled back its global exploration in
the completion of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline response to weak prices and uncertainty about
(TAP) running through Greece and Albania to long-term oil demand. It has reportedly down-
Italy. TAP represents the final leg of the Southern sized its exploration team of geologists, engi-
Gas Corridor, whose other sections began deliv- neers and scientists to less than 100 from a peak
ering extra Azeri gas to Turkey in mid-2018. of more than 700 a few years ago. ™

Week 06 10•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13