Gary Jones, bp’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye, said: "It was an honour for us to host President Ilham Aliyev at the ACE topsides fabrication site today and tell him about the great progress the project has been making.
"The topsides unit is the final major step the project is currently taking towards full completion. We expect topsides onshore construction and commissioning works to be completed in the second quarter of this year. Once fully completed and operationally tested the unit will be loaded out onto the transportation barge STB-1, transported to its permanent location and installed onto the jacket which is already at the field. We will then need a few months to complete offshore commissioning works and drill the first platform well to deliver the first ACE oil early 2024.
"I would like to thank President Aliyev and his government for the invaluable support they have given us throughout the project. My thanks are also to SOCAR and our partners for their support and all people representing bp, Azfen, other contractors and subcontractors for their contribution to the safe and efficient delivery of the project.”
The President toured the ready facility and officially launched the ACE topsides unit which will sail away for offshore installation in the second quarter of 2023.
The ACE topsides facilities have a design weight of 19,600 tonnes containing oil and gas processing facilities, an integrated drilling rig, a gas compressor and living quarters.
The topsides unit has been constructed by Azfen in the Bayil fabrication yard using local infrastructure and resources. Currently, construction and commissioning works are in the final stages with 95% of overall onshore commissioning works already completed.
At peak, the topsides construction activities involved up to 4,400 workers and over 90% of them were Azerbaijani nationals.
The safety record at the site has been outstanding - the topsides team recently celebrated 20 million hours worked without injury.
The ACE project is the next stage of development of the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. It is a $6 billion development project which includes a new offshore platform and facilities designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The project is expected to produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime.
The project was sanctioned in April 2019. The sanction of ACE was the first major investment decision by the ACG partnership following the extension of the ACG Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to 2049 was agreed in 2017. Around $42 billion has been invested in the development of the ACG area since the original PSA signed in 1994.
The ACE project is centred on a new 48-slot production, drilling and quarters platform located mid-way between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 metres. The project also includes new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal terminal.
In addition, there is a water injection pipeline installed between the East Azeri and ACE platforms to supply injection water from the Central Azeri compression and water injection platform to the ACE facilities.
The ACE platform is designed to use technology innovations and automated operation systems that will be controlled remotely from an onshore control room at the Sangachal terminal. It will be the first remotely operated offshore platform in the Caspian. Currently, the remote control scope at the Sangachal terminal is 100% complete with the control room already operational allowing testing to take place.
Construction activities for the project commenced in late 2019 and have taken place in-country utilizing local resources. At peak, over 8,500 people were involved in overall construction activities in Azerbaijan.
Currently, some 85% of the project work scope has been completed with over 25 million hours worked injury free.
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