Chirag Oil Project jacket successfully completed in Azerbaijan

BP, as the operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field, has announced that the construction of the jacket for the West Chirag platform is fully complete as part of the 6-billion-dollar Chirag Oil Project (COP). The heaviest jacket ever built in the Caspian was safely loaded out onto the transportation barge STB-1 at the quayside of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF) at the weekend.

The jacket will remain there through the remaining months of this year to allow the Dada Gorgud to complete the pre-drill activities commenced in 2010. The sail away for offshore installation is planned for early 2013.

"I am very proud of achieving this major milestone which has brought us a step closer to the First Oil from COP planned for the 4th quarter of 2013," Rashid Javanshir, BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said. "The load-out activities have been accomplished very successfully and most importantly in the safest possible way. This makes me feel confident that the rest of the COP project including the West Chirag platform, which is on track for 2013, will be delivered equally successfully. I am also proud that for the first time in the history of the ACG development COP has utilised local resources to the greatest possible extent and all fabrication works are done in Azerbaijan."

"Achievement of this milestone clearly shows that we remain committed to creating and maintaining a project production line in Azerbaijan. We believe COP, as a major new investment committed by ACG partners, will enable us to maximize recovery from the area between the Deepwater Gunashli and existing Chirag platforms. Before COP, we built six world-class offshore platforms on ACG and have so far safely and efficiently operated them to benefit the Azerbaijani nation and our partners. I would like to take this opportunity to once again highlight that we remain committed to delivering world-class business in the Caspian," Dada Gorgud said.